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TRACTS FOR THE TIMES.
ON THE MYSTICISM ATTRIBUTED TO THE EARLY
FATHERS OF THE CHURCH.
§ i. — Occasion, Grounds^ and Limits of the Present Inquiry.
(1 .) It is curious, and may be not uninstructive, to observe how § i. i.
from time to time the assailants of Primitive Antiquity have shifted
their ground, since the beginning of the seventeenth century.
During the struggle of the Reformation, men had felt instinct-
ively, if they did not clearly see, that the Fathers were against
them, so far as they had begun to rationalize, whether in ecclesi-
astical practice, or in theological inquiry. But it was many years
before they ventured to avow this feeling distinctly to themselves,
much more to maintain and propagate it. It was not until divines .
of his class had thoroughly wearied themselves in vain endeavours
to reconcile the three first centuries with Calvin and Zuinglius,
that Daille published his celebrated treatise " Of the Right Use of
the Fathers ' :" in which, under pretence of impugning their suffi-
ciency as judges between Papist and Protestant, he has dexterously
insinuated every topic most likely to impair their general credit .
professing all the while extreme respect both for their sanctity
and their wisdom ; although, perhaps, an attentive reader may
perceive his ironical meaning, disclosing itself more and more, as
his argument draws to a point. However, by his skill in rhetorical
arrangement, and by a certain air of thorough command of his
subject, which he has been very successful in assuming, he became
at once the standard author for all v^ho took that side of the
question ; opening (if so homely a simile may be allowed) a kind
> In 1631.
VOL. VI. — 89. B
2 Gradual Diminution of Respect for Antiquity.
§ i. 1. of cheap shop, to which all who had a fancy for wares of that
kind have ever since found it convenient to resort.
But though at the bottom Daille seems to have had no
more respect for Antiquity than those who came after him, he
differs from them greatly, not only in his tone and manner, but
also in the very ground and substance of his argument : pro-
fessing, first, to confine himself to those points which are dis-
puted between the Reformed and the Roman Church, (and, there-
fore, not to except against the Fathers' evidence on matters
debated in their times, e. g. on the Trinitarian Controversy ;) and
secondly, laying, or seeming to lay, the chief stress of his objec-
tions on the scantiness of their remains, the amount of corrup-
tion and interpolation, the difficulty of ascertaining their real
sense, and the like. When he does proceed to challenge their
authority, he is careful in pointing out their own disclaimers of
such authority, before he exemplifies their supposed errors and
inconsistencies ; which he does largely, but with great show of
unwillingness, in the concluding sections of his work.
But now, if we pass over a hundred years, and come to the
attacks made on the Fathers in the beginning of the eighteenth
century, we shall find, for the most part, the same quotations ap-
pealed to, the same particulars insisted on, but with an air of much
more open defiance, and with the direct and avowed purpose of
impugning their credit, not in this or that point only, but in all
questions of Christian religion. Thus Whitby prefaces his collec-
tion of what he calls specimens of patristical exposition of Scrip-
ture, with a declaration ', that he wishes to exclude appeals to
Antiquity, as to the transmission of the Rule of Faith, (meaning
the great fundamental doctrines,) no less than in facts of general
history, or in the controversies between England and Rome. And
Middleton, in his flippant " Free Inquiry," lays the stress of his
argument on his being able to prove that the ancient Fathers " were
of a character from which nothing could be expected but what a
weak or crafty understanding could supply, towards confirming
those prejudices with which they happened to be possessed, espe-
cially where religion was the subject *."
' Pref. § 2. ed. 1714. » Pref. p. xxxii.
Mysticism, a peculiarly invidious Imputation. S
One would think it impossible to go beyond this in the » j 2.
way of disparagement; but so it is, that in the course of the
century which has elapsed since Whitby and Middleton, a yet
more disrespectful, because more summary, way of dealing
with the Fathers has become current. Whiiby and Middleton
did think it necessary to appear to have examined what is really
to be found in Antiquity ; and the former especially exhibits,
throughout his treatise above-mentioned, what on his principles
must be called a morbid anxiety, to confirm his own views on
several important subjects, (on original sin, for example, and the
natural condition of infants,) by the testimony of the very writers,
whom he is most busy in disparaging. But in our day, perhaps,
the more usual course is, for persons, who do not even pro-
fess any acquaintance with those writers, beyond vague impres-
sions received from report or quotation, to dispose of their
authority in any controverted point, under the notion, understood
or expressed, that " the Fathers were Mystics, and need not be
regarded at all."
(2.) Now, if it were indeed an object with the Evil Spirit, to
decry the relics of Christian Antiquity, and divert men's attention
from them, it is diflf^cult to say what single word he could have
chosen, so critically adapted to his purpose in our days, as this
same word. Mysticism. In the first place, it is not a hard word,
having been customarily applied to such writers as Fenelon and
William Law, whom all parties have generally agreed to praise and
admire. So far it suits well with the smoothness of phrase, on
which the present generation especially prides itself. It seems to set
down the Fathers gently, and so is readily acquiesced in by many,
who would shrink from the coarse sneers of Middleton or Gibbon.
In the next place, it touches the very string, which most cer-
tainly moves contemptuous thought, in those who have imbibed
the peculiar spirit of our time. Mysticism, implies a sort of
confu>ion between physical and moral, visible and spiritual
agency, most abhorrent to the minds of those, who pique them-
selves on having thoroughly clear ideas, and on their power of
distinctly analysing efftcts into their proper causes, whether in
matter or in mind.
b2
4 Meaning of the Charge of Mysticism :
§ i. 3. Again, Mysticism conveys the notion of something essentially
and altogetlier remote from common sense and practical utility:
but common sense and jiractical utility are the very idols of
this age.
Further, that which is stigmatized as Mysticism, is almost
always something which at once makes itself discerned by internal
evidence. The man of tlie world, the practical man, the induc-
tive experimental philosopher, commonly persuades himself that
he can perceive by instinct, when a train of thought, or mode of
speaking, is mere religious dreaming, indistinct fanciful theory ;
and he rejects it accordingly, and is saved all trouble of research.
Here, again, is no small temptation, in the eyes of a world full of
hurry and business, to acquiesce over lightly in any censure of
that kind.
Yet, again, if any man be disposed to speak and think more
harshly of the early Christian writers, this same term, Mysticism,
may serve his purpose also ; for it is easy, by a dexterous enun-
ciation, or choice of context, to insinuate through it a charge of
deliberate fraud. It is an instance, therefore, of a mode of
speaking, equally convenient for all shades and degrees of enmity
to, or contempt of, Antiquity. We see what its power is in a
kindred instance; how meanly even respectable persons allow
themselves to think of the highest sort of poetry, — that v.liich
invests all things, great and small, with the noblest of all associ-
ations, — when once they have come to annex to it the notion of
Mysticism. And perhaps its mischievous effects on theology
are as great as any attributable to a single word.
(3.) It may, therefore, be of some use to consider, as distinctly
as we can, what people really mean when they charge the Fathers
with Mysticism ; which being done, we may perhaps have a bet-
ter chance of making out to our satisfaction, whether, and how far,
as a body, they di serve the charge.
By the term Mysticism, then, as applied to the writers in
question, I understand to be denoted, a disposition, first, to
regard things as supernatural which are not really such ; and
secondly, to press and strain what may perhaps be really super-
natural in an undue and extravagant way.
Temper in which we should begin to examine it. 5
(4.) Upon which bare statement, without going any further, a § i. 4.
devout mind will probably at once acknowledge, on which side in
the present question the peril of erring will be greatest. The ques-
tion is like that of the general evidences of religion : a person who
would go into it with advantage, should be imbued beforehand with
a kind of natural piety, which will cause him to remember all
along, that perhaps, when he comes to the end of his inquiry, he
will find that God was all the while really there. He will " put off
his shoes from off his feet," if he do but think it possible that an
angel may tell him, by and by, " The place where thou standest
is holy ground." So it must be, in some measure, with every
right-minded person, in the examination of every practice and
opinion, against which the charge of Mysticism is brought.
Whatever may appear in the case at first sight, likely to move
scorn or ridicule, or tempt to mere lightness of thought ; it will
be an exercise of faith, a trial of a serious heart, to repress for
the time any tendency of that kind : the loss and error being
infinitely greater, if we are found trifling with a really sacred sub-
ject, than if we merely prove to have been a little more serious
than was necessary. In this sense, that is to say in regard of the
reverent or irreverent temper, in which such inquiries may be
approached, superstition is surely a great deal better than irreli-
gion: whatever may be thought of the abstract question. Whether
it be the safer extreme to believe too much, or too little ?
It may be said, that the Fathers themselves indicate an excep-
tion to this rule, by the light and sarcastic way, in which they
often allow themselves to treat the pretended mysteries, sometimes
of heathens, sometimes of heretics as bad as heathens. But the
case is not strictly in point. For I am speaking of pretensions
unexamined, and therefore, as yet, more or less doubtful : but
the Fathers had, or accounted themselves to have, good grounds
for believing that the mysteries and miracles which they held up
to scorn were^ in part at least, the work of evil spirits, with whom
they thus most effectually renounced communion. Before we
indulge the like feeling in our treatment of any claim to super-
natural powers, we had need have the like assurance of diabolical
agency in them : and that to show them any reverence would seem
6 Heads of Ancient Mysticism enumerated.
i. 5. like imparting of God's honour to the Evil One. Although even
in such a case deep fear and humiliation of heart would seem the
more appropriate sentiment for ordinary Christians. For is it
not a fearful and humbling thought, that mankind, that we our-
selves, are, or have been, in danger of mistaking the work of God's
enemy for His own ?
Further, it may be well to bear in mind, that the noblest and
most refined devotional tendencies have always had to bear the
imputation of Mysticism, or some other equivalent word ; as if to
cultivate them were a mere indulgence o{ a dreamy, soaring,
indistinct fancy. In this use of it, the word Mysticism has done
probably as much harm in checking high contemplative devotion,
as the kindred term. Asceticism, in discouraging Christian self-
discipline.
Thus much for the first impression, which the very application
of the term to the Fathers would make on a considerate person,
as yet ignorant of their writings. He would expect, almost cer-
tainly, to find them imbued with devotional feelings of an un-
usually high order ; and lie would be prepared for the possibility,
that even those views of theirs, which might seem at first glance
overstrained, fantastic, or unnatural, might turn out in the end to
be portions of true Christian wisdom.
(5.) What now are the particulars of the Fathers' imputed Mys-
ticism ? i. e. in what respects would they be commonly charged
with an undue anxiety to make out supernatural meanings and
interferences? The following heads would seem to comprehend
the greater part of their supposed delinquencies in this kind : —
1. Their interpretations of Scripture are said to be far-fetched
and extravagant ; extracting figurative, theological allusions out of
the most irrelevant or insignificant details of language or history.
2. Correspondent to this is their mode of treating natural ob-
jects, and the truths of philosophy and common life; fancying every
where indications of that system, on which their own hearts were set.
3. They were mystics in their notions of providential inter-
ference, whether in the way of judgment, deliverance, or warn-
ing. To which head may be referred whatever they state of the
exercise of the gift of prophecy in their times ; as also their
Inadequate Defences of it in modern Times. 7
accounts of reputed miracles, and of the sensible agency of evil § i. 6.
spirits, and of their own and others' warfare with them.
4. Finally, they are blamed for Mysticism, properly so called,
in their moral and devotional rules; i. e. for dwelling too much
on counsels of perfection, tending (as is affirmed) to contempla-
tion rather than action, to monastic rather than social and
practical virtue.
These are the sort of imputations on which the changes have
been rung, for the two last centuries, by those who have wished
to evade the testimony of the Fathers, without setting them down
distinctly as deliberate impostors.
(6.) It may be added, that many of their professed advocates,
(Warburton for example,) have in fact given up their cause, as far
as concerns every one of these representations. For what, in
reality, does his defence of them come to, even when he is led to
state their case most favourably ; e. g. in the Preface to Julian ?
Just to this, and no more : that they might be trusted in their
relations of things which came within the scope of their own
knowledge, provided there was no room for surmising any thing
miraculous : and again, that on other subjects, whether as rea-
soners or as narrators, they were not weaker, but a little wiser,
than Pagan and Jewish writers of the same date.
It is true that Warburton belonged to a school, which has a
temptation of its own for slighting the Fathers, over and above
differences in particular doctrines ; a school, whose leading prin-
ciple is, that theology, like other sciences, improves by time :
or, (to use the words of one of its most plausible advocates) that
" Christianity was in its infancy, at most in its childhood, when
these men wrote ; and therefore it is no wonder that they spake
as children, that they understood as children, that they thought
as children. This was according to the economy they were
then under \"
Such writers, when they speak most modestly of themselves,
and most respectfully of antiquity, do not however hesitate to
make use of the old simile, of a dwarf seeing further than a giant
when raised on a giant's shoulders ; imagining it to be as applicable
' Bishop Law, as quoted by Middleton, p. 57.
8 III Effect of shrinking from the mystical View.
§ »• ?• to religion, as it is to physical and human learning; and, when
they would most appear to advocate the ancients, cannot of
course refrain from stigmatizing them as inadequate judges of
Christian truth, infected sometimes with Platonic, sometimes
with Rabbinical error : and thus, while with a sort of candour
they excuse the men at the expense of the age, they do the
Adversary's work, by detracting from their authority, and with-
drawing attention and deference from their writings.
But even those who in their hearts really loved to lean on
Antiquity, and would have been uneasy, if they had not the suf-
frage of the Fathers with them, have not always taken the course
most likely to win them due respect. Whether it were that they
feared to commit themselves, — or that they shrunk before popu-
lar notions, — or as a mere matter of taste and feeling, — 'the
champions of the Fathers, for many years past, have generally
been content to claim credit for them only as witnesses to
certain palpable facts of their time : the inevitable consequence
of which has been, that even diligent and earnest inquirers have
been satisfied with a second-hand knowledge of their writings ;
and often, when they have come in to fill their proper place in
argumentative discussions, they have nevertheless been far from
occupying the room which justly belonged to them, in our theo-
logical views and impressions. There are, and have been, praise-
worthy attempts to raise their credit, by drawing attention to those
portions of their literature, which seemed to have most in common
with modern ideas, whether in the way of general reasoning with
unbelievers, or of refined devotional feeling, or of eloquent mora-
lity. But tlie very circumstance of such selections being made with
a view to modern prejudices, shows that they can do no more than
palliate the evil. When a reader passes from specimens of that
kind to the whole body of any Father's writings, he is apt to feel
as if he had been unfairly dealt with, and is inclined rather to be
the more intolerant of the many things which he is sure to meet
with, alien to his former tastes and habits of thought,
(7.) May it not with reason be suspected, that the root of the
matter lies deeper, and that in order to arrive at it, we must
make up our minds thoroughly to consider the whole subject
Opposition between it and popular Notions. 9
ab initio ? It may perhaps turn out that the boldest way of § i. 7-
meeting the difficulty is the most rational, and ultimately the
most consoling. We must not be startled, though we find our-
selves compelled to own, that modern and ancient theolo^ry are
to a great extent irreconcileable ; that if popular notions are
right, the Fathers are indeed "mystical" in a bad sense, and
that, in all the several departments above mentioned.
Thus, in respect, first, of Scripture interpretation, the re-
ceived doctrine of this age seems to be, that nothing ought to be
figuratively or typically explained, except on the authority of
Scripture itself^ ; it being assumed, that we can no otherwise be
certified of the divinely intended relation, necessary to make up
the nature of a real Type. Now those who hold this rule must
necessarily think meanly of the Fathers as expounders of Scrip-
ture, since in every paragraph almost we find some allegory, not
scriptural according to the required test.
Secondly, in respect oTallusions moral or theological, regularly
and uniformly deduced from the contemplation of the creatures
of God, in the manner, e. g. of Boyle's Occasional Reflections ;
it would probably be considered a candid judgment, in our time,
which should allow that such might constitute tolerable poetry :
but to consider them as a part of theology, to regard them as
having been from the beginning intended by the Creator, and
the creation ordered with a view to them ; — who is there among
us, that would not at first be tempted to reject such a theory as
overstrained and merely fanciful ?
Thirdly, consider the tone of thought, which is accounted
safest and meets with most encouragement in our days, concern-
ing the intimations of God's mysterious providence, whether
national or individual. Is it not a subject, that, as things are, even
sincere-minded persons shrink from ? They are afraid of trustiri<T
themselves with it, though but in thought. What is meant will be
perceived in a moment, if people will reflect what their first im-
pressions were, on reading, e.g., the Journal of Archbishop Laud,
> Bp. Van Mildert, B. L. 239, ap. Home, Introd. ii. 724 ; Macknight, on
St Paul's Ep. iv, 439.
10 The Inquiry limited to Points of general Agreement :
§ i. 8. those portions of it which detail supposed providential warnings.
Or, again, how backward we all find ourselves in confessing our
sense of God's judgments, public and private, when in our
thoughts we can hardly fail to perceive them. I am far from
asserting that this backwardness is not both pious and reasonable,
taking all circumstances into account : but does it not imply a
great change, either in men's condition or opinions, or in both,
since the days of St. Ignatius and St. Cyprian ?
Lastly, the difference in moral sentiments is too obvious to be
denied. The cheerful, liberal, indulgent side is the popular one,
now, in all questions of ethics : severity, strictness, self-denial,
are but so far approved, as their immediate good effect is seen
and understood. Need it be remarked, that the direct contrary
is the case of the Primitive Church ?
On the whole, the discrepancies between the two ages, occasion-
ing the imputation of Mysticism to the ancients, are far beyond
being accounted for by local, accidental, or temporary circum-
stances ; they must be referred to some difference in first prin-
ciples : and unless we are prepared to say positively, w-ith the
philosophic theologians above mentioned, that theology is, like
other sciences, really advancing, of course, as the world grows
older ; we cannot but in candour allow it at least possible, be-
fore examination, that the ancients may have been in the right,
and we in the wrong.
(8.) In order to judge of this fairly, one should begin by stating,
with its due limitations, the real judgment of Christian Antiquity
on the several matters above enumerated, — an undertaking
evidently far beyond the limits of such an essay as the present :
one can only endeavour to give some faint specimen of the
results, which, it is conceived, more extensive inquiry would esta-
blish ; premising, however, the following cautions, as necessary
to be kept in view throughout the inquiry.
First, that since we are to speak of the Fathers collectively,
we must be careful to select those points, in which tliey exhibit a
tolerably general agreement. This limitation disposes at once of
many of the most plausible objections to the views of Antiquity,
and also of many of the unworthy and inadequate allegations of
to be judged of by Analogy from other practical Matters. 1 1
its timid defenders ; as I hope to show hereafter in some import- § i. 8.
ant examples.
But to make the rule a practical one, we should well under-
stand, secondly, what is to be accounted general agreement
among the Fathers. For it is the third particular in the rule
of Vincentius, Quod ab ovinibus, which has ever afforded most
scope for cavil to the rationalist, and for perplexity to the
unwary. But let us only apply to this matter the same rules of
common sense, which guide us on analogous subjects in ordinary
life. A person not regularly trained in medicine desires to know
what are safe rules of diet : is he to believe that there are no
such rules at all, because he finds none from which, at some
time or other, ingenious innovators have not contrived to dis-
sent ? Another wishes to ascertain some point of common law :
does he think it necessary for that purpose, that cases in all
points exactly like his own shall have come under the cognisance
of each former generation of jurists ? Or, in matters of naviga-
tion, would it be said there were no fixed rules, because but a few
out of many seamen have left the results of their experience any
where on record ? The question about the Fathers is so far like
these, that it is strictly a question of practice : men want to know
which is the safest way in regard of their duty towards God ; if
they require in every point absolute inevitable demonstration, of
course they cannot have it in the Fathers : but do they really
think they find it in Holy Scripture ?
Certainly many of the principles most relied on by Daille and
other such writers, are such that, if we followed them out, we
should not stop short of universal scepticism. E. g. Whitby lays it
down as an axiom \ That if Scripture be a perfect rule of faith,
it must be so clear in necessary things as to require no interpre-
ter ; and that it cannot be a rule or measure where it is obscure.
Might he not as reasonably have said, that it cannot be a rule to
any one who does not thoroughly understand the languages in
which it was originally written ? Such sentiments are, in fact,
inconsistent with the present condition of man : they deal with us
as though we might be independent of human testimony, or
arrive at mathematical certainty in moral matters. We can only
» Pref. p. 8, 9.
1 2 Agreement to he sought in Principles, not in Details :
§ i. 8. be safe by putting them aside, and resolving to use, on this sub-
ject, the same kind of intuitive good sense, which is given us
for our guide in all other matters of conduct ; which good sense,
as even heathen moralists could discern, is the ordinary accom-
paniment and providential reward of intellectual fairness and
purity.
Nor can any measure of general agreement be laid down, in
words so precise, as not to leave a great deal to the exercise of
this practical wisdom. However, one obvious rule would be,
not to demand coincidence in detail, but in general principles ;
and again, in those generals only, which belong to the professed
subject-matter and scope of the writers. For example, there
is hardly one of the Fathers, of whose works we have any
considerable quantity remaining, but has left on record his inter-
pretation of one part or another of the Old Testament, in sufficient
quantity to indicate his rules of exposition. Now, who will
deny that it would be a very remarkable fact, should those rules
be found, on the whole, the same throughout the whole series
of Catholic Fathers ; — a fact on which important conclusions may
depend ? and yet it may so happen, that no one passage in the
Bible is quoted by them all ; and again, that there are no two
of them, who agree in their explanations of all the passages they
quote.
Again; it may be, that in the detail of some historical facts,
or in some abstract principles not immediately bearing on theology,
there may exist a general, not to say an universal, agreement, on
which, nevertheless, very little can be built, because on such things
they may very well be supposed to have taken for granted what
was generally received in their age. Or, if they differ, such dif-
ference rather illustrates their concurrence on the great eccle-
siastical subjects ; for it proves the activity of their minds, and
their energy in judging for themselves, where religion permitted.
For example, among the opinions attributed to the Fathers as
erroneous, we find ' the notion of the soul in its separate state having
a kind of body or sensible form, an aerial e'idtoXoy, or vehicle (as it
has sometimes been called). And again, we find cited', as a speci-
men of the discrepancies of Catholic writers, the opposite con-
» Whitby, pp. 201—3. » Ibid. Pref. Ixxvi— Ixxvii/.
and in Theological Matter : Reserve to be allowed for. 13
jectures of St. Augustin and St. Jerome on the origination of the § i- 9. 10.
soul. Now, these are metaphysical not theological points ; they
fall not within the province of Christian Antiquity as such ; on
such points, neither discrepancy nor agreement in error proves
any thing against the Fathers, as Divines.
(9.) As then common sense teaches, that in judging collectively
ofthat large and miscellaneous body ofliterature, which goes under
the name of the Fathers, we must select those points, if any,
which are common to the whole mass ; and again, that when we
speak of agreement among them, we must mean agreement in
principle not in detail, and on Christian not on secular subjects :
so a little ecclesiastical knowledge will suggest to us another
consideration, very needful to be borne in mind, when we are
estimating the value of their concurrence in any point within
their sphere, — I mean the reverential reserve, which undoubt-
edly they practised in every part of religion, in proportion
to its sacredness. If we would deal fairly with the subject,
we must make allowance for this reserve. Knowing for cer-
tain that it did exist, we are bound to take it into the account,
and often to give those who wrote under its influence credit for a
more thorough agreement in high and mysterious doctrines, than
their words at first sight would otherwise appear to express.
One very remarkable instance, which it is enough just to mention
now, it having been of late amply illustrated, is the doctrine of
the Ante-Nicene Fathers concerning the Divinity of the Son
of God. Another is, the rule of solemnization of the holy Sacra-
ments. A reader, versed in liturgical language, will often dis-
cover in the writings of the Fathers, sometimes in Scripture
itself, allusions to the sacraments conveyed in one word or syllable,
— allusions prima facie so faint, that we could hardly dare to
reason upon them, were we not aware of the duty of reserve
which would hinder the writers from more express disclosure of
the particulars of those Holy Mysteries.
(10.) It may be well to add one more caution, relating particu-
larly to the interpretation of Scripture. Like all questions of lan-
guage, especially poetical language, it is to every one of us in some
degree a matter of taste : we come to it prepossessed with certain
conventional rules, or certain associations of our own, which
14 Prejudices of Taste. — Universality of ancient Mysticism.
§ ii. 1. cling by us in spite of ourselves, and often affect our reasonings
more than we are aware. But as the Scripture itself, both in
substance and in form, is surely far unlike what mere human
wisdom would have anticipated, so it is more than possible, that
the true method of interpreting it may conduct us on a very
different line, from any vvl)ich would be pointed out by merely
human criticism. It seems reasonable, therefore, and religious, to
come to questions of that kind, expecting to meet with many
things, which may at first seem strange or fanciful, or otherwise
unworthy of Divine wisdom ; to make up our minds beforehand,
that we will not be too much startled by such things, nor reject
them at once, but try them by their proper measures ; lest we be
found deferring to our own prejudices, rather than to the truth
of God : — prejudices, not so much of opinion, as of rhetorical or
poetical taste.
Under such impressions, we may safely approach the first head
of Mysticism imputed to the Fathers, viz. their mode of inter-
preting Holy Scripture.
§ ii. — Specimen of ancient Mysticism in interpreting Scripture.
(1.) First, as to the matter of fact; we need not perhaps hesitate
to admit in the most unreserved way, — indeed it miglit be hard
to find any one who has ever denied,-T-the universal adoption, by
the early Christian writers, of the allegorical way of expounding
the Old Testament. They do undoubtedly profess to find an in-
tended figurative and Christian meaning, in innumerable places,
which are neither express prophecies, nor alluded to as types
in the New. Not only in the prophetical writings do they
find our Lord and His Gospel every where; not only do they
trace throughout the Levitical services the example and shadow
of the future heavenly things ; but they deal also in the same way
with the records of history, whether Patriarchal or Jewish ; and
with the fragments which the Holy Ghost has caused to be pre-
served out of the moral and devotional poetry of the Hebrews,
— the Book of Job, the Psalms, and the Proverbs, and (what
is in some respects the most significant and remarkable instance
of all) the Song of Solomon from beginning to end.
The general fact is doubtless familiar to all ; being constantly
Specimen of it in Allusions to the Passion. 15
produced, on the one hand, by the assailants of the Fathers — § h. 2, 3.
(for " whole books," as Middleton contemptuously says ', " have
been compiled of their foolish reasonings in religion ;") — nor,
on the other hand, has their exercise of this mode of inter-
pretation been ever disputed, as a fact, by their defenders :
whether it has been duly appreciated by the writers of either
party, is altogether another question. Nowhere, perhaps, among
our English divines, will the subject be found treated more
thoughtfully or more worthily, than by Bishop Fell, in his notes on
St. Cyprian, and on the Apostolical Fathers. However, in so
great a consent of witnesses, one may state the case largely with-
out presumption, and without affecting more than a superficial
knowledge of Antiquity.
(2.) Let it then be taken for granted, that a mode of expound-
ing, which would seem to most men fanciful and strained, generally
prevails in the Christian writers of the first centuries. The great
point will be, to account in some measure for this fact. In order
to which it may be expedient, not by way of proof but of illus-
tration, if we take some one remarkable instance, and trace it
as we may through the writings of some of the most eminent and
earliest Fathers. And, not to give them any undue advantage,
it may be well to select one of those subjects, their treatment of
which is commonly considered most extravagant ; a subject, which
has attracted towards them in no common degree the contemptu-
ous wonder of modern critics and philosophers : I mean, their
discovering the tokens of our Lord's Passion, and more espe-
cially the Sign of the Cross, in innumerable places of the Old
Testament, which neither are so expounded in the New, nor to
common eyes betray of themselves any such allusion.
(3.) To begin with the Epistle attributed to St. Barnabas ; it is
well-known how unreservedly it adopts the allegorical mode of
interpretation. Supposing it not to be written by the Apostle, — a
supposition which involves no charge of forgery, since it no where
professes to be his ; and in which it may not be wrong to ac-
quiesce, rather, however, for want of ecclesiastical testimony to
its genuineness, than for any thing imworthy of such an origin to
be discovered in the epistle itself, — it is undoubtedly, by the man-
> p. 57.
16 St. Barnabas, his Mystical Allusion to the Cross.
ii- 4 ner in which St. Clement of Alexandria quotes it, a monument of
the age next after the Apostles, and almost as undoubtedly, judging
by internal evidence, it was meant as what in our' days would be
called a popular hortatory tract, intended to reconcile the Christians
of the circumcision to the utter rejection of the Jewish people.
And by one expression in iO, we may perhaps reasonably assign
its date, to the year 136 or thereabouts; when Adrian, having
overthrown the rebel Jews under Bar Cochab, was most active
in building iElia on the site of Jerusalem, and a Gentile Christian
Church was beginning to flourish there. To this, as it may seem,
the author of the Epistle applies the prophecy of Isaiah, (xlix. 1 7.)
according to the reading of the LXX. : " ' Thou shalt be quickly
builded by those who were thy destroyers :' this," says he, *' is
now in course of accomplishment. For their rising in war led to
the subversion of their city by their enemies ; but now the very
servants of the same enemies are building it up again."
This date deserves notice, because it suggests a sufficient rea-
son for the freedom with which the author, in a popular tract,
exhibits the method of symbolical exposition, which was gene- .
rally rather withdrawn from ordinary eyes. The calamity, perhaps,
was great and astounding enough to justify disclosures otherwise
irregular, for the consolation and establishment of the faithful.
However, certain it is that this epistle, which is addressed to
Christian men and women without distinction, might be not
unfitly selected for a specimen of the mystical way, as applied to
the Old Testament.
(4.) As concerning the Passion and Cross of our Lord in par-
ticular, (to say nothing of the sacrifice of Isaac, the typical
nature whereof, as it seems, no age of Christians has ever denied,
notwithstanding the silence of Scripture,) St. Barnabas has the
following passage^: " Israel being attacked by the aliens, with a
view, amongst other things, of signifying to the people, that
their transgressions were the cause of their being given over to
death, the Spirit speaks inwardly to Moses, to f rm a type of
the Cross, and of Him who was to suffer : that if men refuse to
trust in Him, they will have no peace for ever. Moses there-
fore places one shield on another in the middle of the mound ;
» C. xvi. ' C. xii.
Warrant in Scripture for St. Barnabas's Mysticism. 17
and being thus posted high above all, he stretches out his hands, § "• 12.
and so Israel began again to be victorious : afterwards, when on
the contrary he let down his hands, again they were slaughtered.
Wherefore ? That men might know there is no chance of salvation,
except they put their trust in Him. And in another Prophet he
says, 'AH the day long 1 have stretched forth my hands to a
disobedient and gainsaying people.' "
What is very observable, the Author next goes on to mention,
with just the same tone of confidence, and no more, the typical
meaning of the Brasen Serpent ; observing, with his usual piety,
"Thou hast in this also the glory of Jesus ; that in Hira, and
to Him, are all things."
Had it seemed good to God's providence, that the discourse
of our Lord to Nicodemus should have been lost, as so many
other of His divine words were, would not the Christian inter-
pretation of this latter miracle have seemed to many forced and
fanciful, just as that of the former may perhaps seem now ?
And ought not this single consideration to stop the mouths of all,
who have any reverence in their hearts, when they find themselves
tempted to join in hasty censure or scorn of such interpretations ?
For aught they know, they may be scorning or censuring the very
lessons of our Divine Master Himself.
(12.) I proceed to another historical type, which to many may
appear more extravagant. The Author is reasoning on the history
of Abraham, to prove tlie insufficiency of Jewish circumcision
out of the Old Testament itself. So far, as will occur to every
one, he is treading in the steps of St. Paul. After producing
many passages to that purpose, he closes the subject with the
following* : "Consider whether there be not abundant instruc-
tion on this whole matter, in the account given us, that Abra-
ham, who first gave men circumcision, did thereby perform a
spiritual and typical action, looking forward to the Son : and that,
upon receiving certain doctrines conveyed in three (mystical)
letters. For He saith, Abraham circumcised of his house men
to the number of three hundred and eighteen. What then is
' Ep. S. Barnab. r. ix.
VOL. VI. — 89. C
18 Mystical Meaning of Gen. xiv. 14.
§ ii. 13. the mysterious truth thus vouclisafed to him ? Observe the
eighteen first, then the three hundred. Of the two letters which
stand for 18, 10 is represented by I, 8 by H. Thou hast here
the word Jesus :" i. e., the two first letters, which formed as it
were a cypher of the sacred Name, faa)iliar to the eyes and
thoughts of the Christians of that generation : as was also the
third of the numeral letters in question, which the writer next
goes on to explain : *' Because the Cross, which is signified to
the eye by the letter Tau, was intended to bring the grace, [to
wliich he looked forward ;] he adds the three hundred also,"
the letter Tau representing that number. " By the two first
letters then the name Jesus is indicated, and by the third the
Cross."
On this commentary, which as well as the former has been
adopted by multitudes of the early interpreters', several remarks
occur, which it may be well to put down, as they will each of
them apply to a whole class of examples, and to difficulties
which are certain to arise in many of our minds, though we
were never so resolutely on our guard against prejudices of mere
taste and association.
(13.) First, it may be observed that the several circumstances,
which may appear at first sight startling in this exposition,
though not perhaps united in any one Scriptural example, have
yet, each severally, undoubted sanction of Scripture. Thus,
the use of the numeral letters as a cypher, to convey some mys-
terious truth, has a well-known precedent in the Book of Reve-
lation. Again, the passage in St, Barnabas is an instance of the
combination of texts apparently remote, but really bearin<' on
the same subject : for the number, three hundred and eighteen,
is not mentioned in the account of the circumcision of Abraham's
family, but is borrowed from the previous enumeration occa-
sioned by the war with Chedorlaomer '. Now, this sort of
combination of remote texts appears to be warranted, in one in-
* For example, S. Clem. Alex. Strom, vi. 84; S. Ambr. de Fide, i. init. and
§ 121 ; S. Aug. Quaest. in Jud. 37; S. Hil. de Synod. 86.
* Compare Gen. xvii. 27; xiv. 14
The Greek Bible recognised by the Fathers. 19
stance at least, by our blessed Lord Himself. " Is it not written, c jj ^4,.
« My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer 1 ' "
So far is taken from Isaiah, but the conclusion of the sentence,
" Ye have made it a den of thieves," was addressed by Jeremiah
to a subsequent generation \
Now whether the fact were really so or not, (if it were, it was
surely by special providence,) that Abraham's household at the
time of circumcision was exactly the same number as before:
still the argument of St. Barnabas will stand. As thus : circum-
cision had from the beginning a reference to our Saviour, as in
other respects, so in this ; that tiie mystical number, which is
the cypher of Jesus crucified, was the number of the first
circumcised household, in the strength of which Abraham
prevailed against the powers of the world. So St. Clement
of Alexandria^, as cited by Fell': "It is commonly supposed
that we have here an indication of a correspondency between
the case of Abraham's household and the method of salvation :
of the victory obtained by those who have betaken them-
selves to the Holy Sign and Name, over those who led them
captive, and the innumerable tribes of unbelievers, who follow
in their train."
(14.) Nor is warrant of Scripture wanting for that which must
otherwise seem most inadniissible in this interpretation ; the
appeal, namely, to the Greek Bible, as having something like
divine authority. And this again is a topic which meets us
throughout the remains both of the Greek and Latin Fathers. The
Septuagint, and Latin versions clearly made from it, are every-
where unscrupulously quoted as the words of inspiration ; with
the single exception, perhaps, of St. Jerome. Some of the
Fathers' opponents would insinuate, that this rests altogether
on the tradition reported by Aristeas, of a miraculous consent
among the original translators, even in the minutest point. But
this is refuted by the language of St. Augustin, who speaks
doubtfully of that tradition, but without any doubt of this par-
ticular version being so overruled by a prophetic Spirit *, that
• See Isai. Ivi. ^ ; Jer. vii. 11. * Strom, vi, 11.
» In loc. S. Barn. * De Doct. Christ, ii. 22.
C 2
20 The Greek Bible recogv'ised by St. Paul.
§ ii. 14. even in those places where it swerved from the Hebrew Verity,
there was a special providential design in such variation \
Now, can it be denied, that this idea receives countenance from
the mode in which the Old Testament is quoted in the New ? In
the Epistle to the Hebrews, for example, St. Paul argues at large
the necessity of the Mediator's death, from the use of the word
SiadriKTi, " Testament," in the LXX. to represent that Hebrew
word which is commonly translated Covenant. "For this cause,"
says he, " it is a New Testament, of which Christ is said to be
Mediator, that by means of death the called might receive the
promise ; for where a Testament is pleaded, the death of the
testator must necessarily be alleged. For a Testament is valid
in the case of the dead, since it never avails, as long as the tes-
tator is alive ^" And he goes on to show how the word was
applicable to the Mosaic covenant also, i. e. by the typical death
of the sacrifices. Who does not see that this reasoning is grounded
entirely on the Greek version ? since the Hebrew JT*"!^ does not
in any way answer to the notion of a last will. St. Paul's reason-
ing implies therefore thus much at least concerning the LXX ;
that in their rendering of this very critical word, they were provi-
dentially directed to the use of a term, which should convey an
allusion to a great Christian mystery. And so far the Apostle
warrants the judgment of St. Augustin^: "Whoever besides
shall truly translate any portion of the Old Testament from
Hebrew into another language :" (St. Jerome, of course, was
in his mind :) " his version will be found either to agree
with that of the LXX. or if it appears not to agree, in
that very disagreement we must believe that there exists some
deep prophetic meaning." Nay, even St. Jerome, when he is
impugning their authority, seems to own that there might
exist in them a modified and inferior kind of inspiration. " I
do* not condemn, I do not blame the LXX. but I confidently
prefer the Apostles to them all. Christ speaks to me by the lips
of those, concerning whom I read ', that they stand even before
» De Civ. Dei, xviii. 43. * Heb. ix. 15—20. ' S. Aug. ubi sup.
* Prolog, in Gen. t. ix. p. 10. Ed. Vallars. Venet. 1770.
5 1 Cor. xii. 28.
Allusions to the Cross, how viewed by Antiquity. 21
Prophets in the order of spiritual gifts ; in which order the inter- § "• 15-
pretation of tongues occupies nearly the last place."
We have seen that in one place at least this view is justified
by the Scripture : and one place is sufficient for our present
purpose, which is, not to prove the LXX. infallible, but to be-
speak a certain reverence for their yet unexamined decisions,
and for the constant appeals of the early writers to them. For
who can assure himself, that in any variation from the Hebrew,
which seems to him most unaccountable, they were not guided
by the same influence, which caused them to write Testament
instead of Covenant, in the places referred to by St. Paul ?
(15.) To return to the passage in Genesis : in whatever measure
the fact is made out, that the received Greek version of the Scrip-
tures was under a peculiar providence, in the same degree it is
rendered not improbable, that even in such an apparently
casual thing as the number of Abraham's servants, there was
an eye to the benefit and consolation which the Church should
long after receive, on recognising, as it were, her Saviour's
cypher, in the account of the one holy family triumphantly warring
against the powers of the world. It were a most inadequate
judgment, to estimate that consolation by any of the feehngs
and opinions current in our time. We must go back to the days
when Christians were used to carry about with them everywhere
the Sign of the Cross; when, to use theforcible words of Tertullian\
" At every step and every movement, going out and coming in,
dressing and putting on their sandals, at the bath, at the board,
when lamps were lighted, when they lay down to rest, when they
seated themselves for their daily task, whatever call of ordinary
life engaged them, the Holy Sign, by incessant use, was as it
were worn into their foreheads." With such associations, it
must have been a real joy to them, as often as they discovered
the Cross in the Old Testament, where they had not marked
it before : it was to them an outward and visible sign of their
communion with Saints and Patriarchs of old, and of God's
everlasting providence over both. It was moreover a perma-
» De Cor. Mil. c. 3.
22 St. Barnabas wrote with Seriousness and Reserve.
ii. 16, 17. nent warning, intelligible to all, against the impiety, not unusual
in those days, of ascribing the two Testaments to different
deities. People little know what they do, when they deal con-
temptuously with any thing, be it in Scripture or in common
life, under the notion that it is too slight, too insignificant,
for the ordering of the Most High.
(16.) All which considered, there appears no fanaticism,
but a great deal of sober piety and charity, in the expressions
of St. Barnabas on dismissing this topic. " He knows " the
reality of this mystery " from whom we," Christians or Chris-
tian teachers, " derive the ingrafted gift of that teaching, which
is properly His. Never have I delivered to any one a more
genuine exposition, but I am well assured that you are meet
to receive it."
If the writer had been merely indulging his own fancy, this
profession of reserve would be mere affectation. But surely, to
esteem it such is too hard a supposition, considering the per-
fect simplicity and moral purity of the precepts at the close of
the Epistle. His very tone and manner, then, creates an addi-
tional presumption, that tlie exposition which he had been giving
was not private but ecclesiastical, and the sort of scruple, with
which he imparts it, an instance of that discipline of reserve,
which the Church recommended in the conveyance of all her
mysteries.
(17.) Neither need any one be staggered at the idea, which his
manner of speaking at first siglu appears to imply, that Abraham
himself was not ignorant of this mystery ; a notion upon which
Dr. Whitby has built what he conceives to be a triumphant
refutation of the allegory. "The Hebrew letter Tau'," he
observes, "neither bears the form of the Cross*, nor is the
symbol of the number three hundred ; and as to the Greek
letters, they were not invented till long after Abraham's time."
Well ; but docs St. Barnabas affirm that Abraham himself knew
the meaning of this Greek cypher? If he did, he might suppose
it made known by prophetic inspiration ; according to the received
exposition of the text in St. John, " Your father Abraham
* De S. S. Interp. p. 9. * See S. Jerome on Ezek. ix. 4. t. v. pars i. p. 95, 6.
Extent of the Patriarchs' Knowledge left doubtful. 25
rejoiced to see my day." But what are St. Barnabas' own § ii. 18.
words? " He circumcised his family, \aftwv rptiov ypaii^aroiv
BoyfinTa, after he had received the doctrines of the three letters,"
i. e, certain mysterious truths, of wliicli the three letters were
to be a symbol. It is not said, he received them by the three
letters.
Again, after stating the number of the household, he asks.
He ovy 7] Eode'iaa tovtu yvwaiQ \ which may be perhaps best con-
strued, " What is the evangelical meaning of the signs given to
him ?" taking yvibaiQ objectively, for the truth sealed up, not
subjectively, for the impression on Abraham's mind. It is not
therefore necessary to understand St. Barnabas as asserting, that
the holy Patriarch himself had this secret revealed to him. For
any thing he affirms, it might be a yvwaig, the outward cypher
of which only was given to Abraham, the key reserved for the
times of our Lord and His Gospel.
And after all, a mistake in that particular could not fairly in-
validate the whole interpretation. There is a school of theolo-
gians, which maintains that Abel must have known the full
doctrine of the Atonement. Those who hesitate in allowing this,
do not therefore necessarily doubt the typical and mystical im-
port of Abel's history. So in this case, we might believe St.
Barnabas, stating what was known in his time to be the significa-
tion of the three letters, while we demurred to his supposition,
that it was known also to Abraham.
(18.) There is yet one more instance, in this ancient epistle, ot
allegorical interpretation with reference to the Cross of our Lord :
an instance which like the former may stand at the head of a
class, and being well considered, may throw much light on ano-
ther wide province of the so called mysticism of the Church.
" Let us see," says the writer^ " whether the Lord has seen good
to give men prophetical indications of the Water and of the
Cross." Then, after other texts, he alleges the first Psalm,
*' He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of waters, that
bringeth forth his fruit in his season ; his leaf also shall not
wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly
* S. Barnab. Ep. c. xi.
24 Mystical Meaning of the Tree in Psalm i. :
§ ii. 19. are not so : but are like the chafF which the wind driveth away;
therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners
in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lokd knoweth the
way of the righteous : but the way of the ungodly shall perish."
Then, " Observe," says he, *' how distinctly the prophet has
pointed out the tree and the water in combination. For what he
says, comes to this : ' Blessed are they who, setting their hope in
the cross, have descended into the water : for I will render their
reward in its time,' i. e. hereafter. But for the present, the
Psalmist adds, 'his leaf shall not wither,' i. e. every word wiiich
shall go out of your mouth in faith and love, shall be to the con-
version and hope of many." The allusion to the Cross is here brief
and obscure, turning as it does upon the single word to ^vXov.
But the moral of the passage is surely most noble and beautiful.
" The Cross, applied by Holy Baptism, gaining the victory over
the powers of the world, is not only the pledge and mean, but
also the emblem, of the faithful man's triumph over his spiritual
enemies. It is the pattern, as its Lord is the giver, of all victory.
And therefore, blessed is the man who walks strictly according
to all the rules of a holy life : for he is like the Cross of Christ ;
his success is sure, his lot, to bear fruit eternally without stint or
measure."
Every one must admire the thought, but the question now is,
how it is derived from the Psalm. The account of which, and of
many like texts, seems to be as follows : The old Christian wri-
ters, either by tradition, or by a feeling so general that it seemed
almost like a natural instinct, believed that the phrase to '^vXoy,
wherever introduced in the Old Testament, was intended to lead
their thoughts to the cross ; of which in their ordinary speech,
TO 'i,v\ov was perhaps the most frequent appellative. Accordingly,
not only such obvious analogies as Isaac bearing the wood of his
sacrifice, the Brasen Serpent, or such a place as that in Isaiah,
" The government," i. e. the sign of power, the victorious Cross,
" shall be upon his shoulder," — but every rod also, or staff, or
sceptre, mentioned by either of the sacred writers, as it was a
token of guidance, support, or dominion, was, in the Fathers'
judgment, a designed emblem of the Cross.
(19.) The best way, perhaps, of exemplifying this, will be totran-
Scripture Warrant for it as staled by Justin Martyr. 25
scribe from Justin Martyr's dialogue with Tryphon, which may § jj. 19,
be considered as a popular view of the prima facie evidence for
Christianity in the Old Testament, the remark;ible passage' in
which he undertakes to prove, that " since the time of our Lord's
crucifixion, there hath been inseparably associated with Him
that which is an emblem, on the one hand, of the tree of life, the
plantation of which in Paradise had been matter of early reve-
lation ; on the other hand, it is also an emblem of the course
appointed by the Almighty for the righteous." This passage,
then, professedly gives the view, which the Christians of Justin's
time took of large portions of the ancient Scriptures : and it is
noticeable also on another account, that it has attracted the
especial scorn of rationalist writers : the language, for example, of
Middleton concerning it, is marked (I had almost said) by brutal
irreverence^. However, thus Justin proceeds:
" Moses with a rod was sent to redeem the people ; and bearing
this in his hand, in the place of sovereignty over them, he divided
the Red Sea. It was by this that the rock gave forth water, gushing
out in his sight. It was a tree which he cast into the waters of
Marah, which being bitter were so made sweet. It was by means of
rods cast into the water, that Jacob caused the sheep of his mother's
brother so to conceive, that the young might fall to his share.
With his rod, or staff, he, the same Jacob, passed over the water
[of Jordan] as he himself boasts. He declared that a ladder
had been seen by him,-and that it was God Himself who was
stationed on the top thereof, the Scripture hath expressly af-
firmed." This example is not irrelevant, since a ladder is part
(so to speak) of the furniture of the Cross. Then havintr di-
gressed on some other emblems occurring in the vision at Bethel,
Justin goes on : " It was the rod of Aaron, which by its buddinor
declared him High Priest. That as a rod from the root of Jesse
Christ should be born, Isaiah foretold ; and David saiih that the
righteous man is as the tree planted by the river of waters, which
shall bring forth his fruit in its season, and his leaf shall not
wither :" where we have Justin's sanction for the interpretation
> 0pp. p. 312—314. 2 Free Inquiry, &c. p. 29.
26 Mystic Combinations of the Cross and the Water :
* "• • which St. Barnabas had given before him. " Again, he saith,
* The righteous shall flourish like a palm.' From a tree God
appeared to Abraham, as it is written, at the oak of Mamre.
Seventy willows and twelve fountains the people found, having
passed over Jordan. By a rod and a staff, David affirms that he
received comfort from his God. It was wood which Elisha cast
into the river Jordan, and so brought up the iron of the axe,
wherewith the sons of the prophets had gone forth, to cut timber
for building that mansion, wherein it was their purpose to recite
and study the law and the commandments of God. Even as when
we were plunged deep in the most grievous sins, which had been
our practice, by His Crucifixion on the tree, and by the water
of His Purification, our Christ redeemed us, and caused us to
become an house of prayer and adoration [to Himself]. Also, it
was a rod which manifested Judah to be the father of those
[twins] who were so born of Thamar, as to exhibit a great
mystery."
(20.) From thisenumeration, which contains in brief thesubstance
of a great body of commentaries, the chain of ideas is at once
apparent, which led to the mystical exposition of the first Psalm.
As in the former instances, the uplifted arm of Moses, and the
cypher inclosed in the number of Abraham's household, it was
the form of the Cross which conveyed the divine intimation : so
here the material of the Cross is found indued with the like em-
blematical virtues.
Again, as St. Barnabas had produced this Psalm as shadowing
out a mystic combination of the Cross and the Water, and there-
fore representing the condition of Christian people ; so in almost
all the anecdotes, parables, and allusions, collected by Justin in
this passage, the like combination is observable. Thus, to take
the history of Moses, the virtue of his rod was shown at the
Red Sea, and in bringing water out of the rock ; the 7vaicr of
Marah was sweetened by the tree which he cast in : the trees and
fountains of Elim seen together, were the earnest of hope to the
Israelites at their entrance on the wilderness. Elisha's causing
iron to swim was a token, as we have seen, of our deliverance
"by the crucifixion on the tree, and the water of purification.'*
Justin's Comment on the History of the Ark. 27
It will be at once seen what a strong light is thrown, by such a § ii. 21.
series of examples, on the doctrine of the Sacraments, as held by
that generation. The Cross and the Water, it is taken for
granted, go together to save a man.
(21.) But in order to appreciate rightly the Fathers' reasoning in
such places, we ought of course to recollect, that its force lies
in the accumulation of instances. It is not necessary that each
anecdote, taken by itself, should be a complete type of the evan-
gelical truth, at wliich the sum of the whole points : e. g, though
a person questioned the distinct allusion to any Christian mystery,
in the account, taken singly, of Jacob's using rods to influence the
breed of Laban's cattle, still it must come in as one among many
examples, to show how constantly the Almighty employed that
material, which was to be the instrument of redemption, as a con-
veyance of temporal blessings to His chosen people.
Nor must we omit the scriptural sanction, which may seem to be
vouchsafed to this whole class of symbols, by the mention in the
New Testament of the ark of Noah : on which Justin himself com-
ments elsewhere in the following way \ " In Isaiah it is said by the
Almighty to Jerusalem, I saved thee in the deluge of Noah."
(He seems to be quoting, not in words but in sense, that portion
of the 54th chapter, " As I have sworn that the waters of Noah
shall no more overflow the earth, so have I sworn to be wroth
with thee no more.") ** Now," proceeds Justin, " this is the de-
claration of God, that the mystery of those who were saved by
Christ was exhibited at the deluge. For the righteous Noah,
with the rest at the deluge, . . being eight in number, had a token
of that eighth day, on which our Lord Christ showed Himself
risen from the dead : the eighth day numerically, but virtually
the first, from the beginning. For Christ, as He was the first-
born of every creature, so He became anew the beginning of a
fresh race of men ; viz. that which was regenerated by Him,
through Water and Faith ; and also, we may add, by Wood, since
wood expresses the mystery of the Cross. Even as Noah also
was preserved by wood, floating upon the waters with those who
' P. 367, c.
28 Importance of the Instances alleged by Justin.
§ ii. 22, 23. belonged to him. When therefore the prophet says, ' I saved
thee in Noah,' he is speaking to that people, who, hke Noah, are
faithful to God, and have the same tokens from Him that Noah
had."
Thus far St. Justin the Martyr, shewing how, in the history
of the ark, there was a designed allusion to the Cross ; and by
parity of reasoning justifying the like exposition, wherever it has
seemed good to Almighty God to use the material of the Cross,
namely wood, in the machinery, so to call it, of His miraculous
providence, over those who, in their several ages, were to pre-
pare the way of His Christ.
(22.) For this may be observed of all the instances, enumerated
above from Jewish or Patriarchal history, (and I remark it on
account o^ those especially, who may be inclined to treat the sub-
ject lightly) that, one and all, they are discernible links in the
providential chain above mentioned ; they all relate to critical
moments in the history of the chosen seed. Thus, the superna-
tural increase of Jacob's flock, by means of the rods, was the first
great step towards the increase of the chosen family into a na-
tion : and again, Judah's staff, the producing of which as his
token, stayed the sentence of death against Tamar, was thereby
instrumental in preserving the life of her infant, in whom it was
God's purpose to continue the chosen seed.
Perceiving, as we do in these cases, something of God's design
in interfering, it surely becomes us to treat those traditions with
reverence, which teach that in the manner of interfering He had
respect continually to the end of the whole dispensation, i. e. to
the Cross of His Son. And if we find other instances alleged,
whose place in the divine oeconomy we are as yet unable to make
out, let us not rashly treat them as trifling or fanciful. If we
do not see their force at first, if they appear to us quaint and
overstrained, it is surely possible that this our ignorance may
be our own fault or our own trial ; it is no absolute proof that
the old interpreters are wrong.
(23.) In quitting for the present this subject, of the types of the
Cross in the Old Testament, I would just remark further, that it
furnishes a clear and instructive example of the manner in which
Connexion of the Scriptural with the Natural Allegory. 29
the Fathers passed from one branch of mysticism into another ; § ji. 24.
from allegorizing the word of God, to spiritualizing His works.
We have seen how they found, or thought they found, a designed
remembrancer and token of the Cross, wherever either its mate-
rial or its form occurred in the Old Testament : and full as their
minds evidently were of the Scriptures, it was but one step farther,
to carry the same association with them, which way soever they
turned, in common life, or among natural objects. For example,
so ordinary a sight as that of a flourishing tree by a river side
could hardly fail to excite in a devout mind, thoroughly familiar
with the Psalms, the remembrance of the description above
quoted, with which that divine book opens ; which description
again, as we have seen, was in a primitive Christian's mind in-
separable from thoughts of the Cross and of the Font.
Here then, among God's visible ordinary works, we obtain a
standing type or symbol, and, — bearing as it does the mark of
selection by the Holy Ghost, may we not venture to call it a
pledge, — of His great invisible work in Holy Baptism ; the grace
of which, we are thus taught, diffusing a kind of insensible virtue
through the whole of our renewed nature, causes a man to grow
in the likeness of Christ, to partake more and more of His Cross,
and so to have surer and surer hope, that " look, whatsoever he
doeth, it shall prosper" for ever.
By this and other like instances, a window being once opened
for the lamps lighted within the Church to stream here and there
upon the external world, it was rendered easy for a devout and
contemplative mind to invent and pursue like trains of thought,
in other instances, less expressly warranted in Scripture.
(24.) To take an instance from the subject which has now em-
ployed us : the early Christian writers repeatedly point out, in
nature and in common life, what they regard as designed provi-
dential intimations of the doctrine of redemption, or some part of
it, by association either with the form or with the material of the
Cross. This they do, not only in flights of devotional poetry, or in
what might be considered the indulgence of a meditative imagina-
tion, but in serious argument even with unbelievers. So in Justin's
well-known appeal, where he is asserting the dignity of the
30 Natural and Providential Emblems of the Cross.
J ii. 24. Cross ^ " Providentially," he says, "it was so ordered, that in
no instance, in the legend of any of those who were called sons
of Jupiter, did the Evil Spirits enact the death of the Cross.
For it was not understood by them, all the prophecies of it
being symbolically expressed. Now the Cross, as one of the Pro-
phets (Habakkuk) foretold, is the most potent symbol of His power
and sovereignty ; as appears even from things daily before our eyes.
" For consider all the affairs of the world : is there any, in the
ordering and due combination whereof, this form does not occur ?
There is no crossing the sea, except this triumphant sign, which,
in that instance, is formed by what they call the yard-arm, remain
entire in the vessel : neither without it is there any plowing the
land : neither those who dig in the ground, nor those who work in
handicrafts, can perform their task, but by tools having this form :
nay, and the human figure differs from animals without reason in
nothing so much as in being erect, and in admitting extension of
the hands each way :" (which association, we may remark by the
way, Holy Scripture itself might suggest, by the posture of
Moses ensuring the defeat of Amalek). But to proceed with
Justin : " The human countenance," he adds, " bears this also
as a mark of distinction from brutes, that from the forehead the
line of the nose is drawn out with a sort of prominence ; so that
where the breath of life is drawn, there the lines exhibit no other
figure than that of the Cross : which the Prophet also hath
thus expressed* : ' Tlie very breathing of our nostrils, is Christ
the Lord.' Moreover your ensigns also," (he is speaking to the
Caesars) " express majesty by this form, wherewith you every
where solemnize your processions ; in them exhibiting the signs of
your sovereignty and power. It is so, though it be unconsciously
done on your part. When your emperors die, their images in this
form are dedicated by you ; and in writing thereon, you style
them gods."
" Thus," he concludes, " having urged you to the best of
our power, both by reasoning, and by this appeal to a visible
form, which is continually meeting your eyes, we consider
* 2 Apol. p. 90. B. * Lamentations iv. 20.
Reverence for the Cross, a Token of Faith in the Atonement. 31
ourselves to have done our part, and not to be responsible, should § jj. 26.
you remain unbelievers."
(25.) One would have supposed, that at least the piety and good
meaning of such trains of thought might remain unquestioned, by
all believers in the Cross of Christ, whatever judgment might
be formed on their logical accuracy. Yet, so it is, that on pas-
sages of this kind a charge has been grounded against the Fathers,
of directing ihe " faith of their readers to the efficacy of the figure
of the Cross, rather than to the Atonement made thereon." A
charge which might perhaps be tenable, could it be proved that
the general views and conduct of the same Fathers were such as to
contradict their truly believing the Atonement. Just as, if there
were any persons, either in ancient or in modern times, who observed
no rules of self-denial, we might conclude at once that any trust
they had, or taught others to have, in " Christ crucified," was in
fact a trust in a certain form of words, not in the virtue itself of that
blessed sacrifice. What was the Cross, as employed by the Fathers,
but a " Verbum visibile," recalling to the minds of the baptized
the very truth which they are thus accused of Slighting ; and to
the heathen themselves conveying so much as this, that the Gos-
pel was essentially a doctrine of the Cross, a doctrine of suffering
in adherence to a crucified Redeemer? As an expressive symbol,
therefore, or word, the Sign of the Cross was liable to the same
abuse with words in general : the self-deceit of man might enable
hin) sometimes to acquiesce in the sign w ithout the thing signified ;
and such a caution might be occasionally needed, as Wesley is
reported to have received from William Law : '• Remember that a
man may deceive himself as easily by the phrase, • justification by
faith,' as by any other combination of syllables."
But supposing no such practical proof against them, may we
not say, that the Fathers' veneration for the Cross is primd facie
as much a proof of their receiving the doctrine of Christ crucified,
as any form of words in which they could possibly have expressed
themselves? And there was this plain and material reason, for their
preferring the visible symbol to any mode of speech, in treatises
for general reading ; that they did not thereby convey more
kno.\ ledge, than the rule of the Church allowed, to those who
were without, while to every baptized believer they conveyed
32 St. Cyprians Allusion to the Wood of the Cross.
ii. 26. intimations, deep and solemn in proportion to the depth of his
faith.
(26.) But not only with the figure of the Cross, but with its
material also, the piety of those times associated divine relations and
recollections; tranrerring,by an easy process, the mystical allusion,
which the New Testament expressly sanctioned in the case of the
ark, not only, as before mentioned, to other scriptural facts, such
as that of Elisha causing the iron to swim, but also to occasions
of common life ; such, for example, as that mentioned by St.
Cyprian, where he comforts certain imprisoned confessors, with
thoughts, which to the world may seem merely enthusiastic and
fanciful ; but let not us rashly apply such words to the reflections
of holy men, suffering for the truth's sake, on the circumstances of
their trial ; circumstances which others might term casual, but
which they feel to be providential. Thus, I say, St. Cyprian
writes, to Nemesianus and other confessors, condemned to the
mines ^
" The circumstance of your having been first beaten with
staves, and by severe pain of that kind begun to solemnize
the first glorious stage of your confession, has nothing in it that
we need abhor, or earnestly deprecate. For those limbs of yours,
christened as they were, and having all their hope in the Wood of
the Cross, shrank not for terror from the wood of the persecutors'
staves. The sacrament and token of his salvation was recognised
by the servant of Christ. Redeemed before by wood to eternal
life, by wood in another form he now finds himself borne onwards
to his crown."
This passage may serve as a specimen of the manner, in
which those first Christian moralists improved things, seemingly
trivial, to spiritual associations. Those who merely make
light of such allusions, know little of the real comfort they
are calculated to give, to minds over depressed, perhaps, by sick-
ness or privation. And may we not also say, they know but
little, I fear we all know far less than we ought, of that serious
and thankful frame of mind, which fears to accept such consola-
tions, without owning a special Providence in them, and regarding
' Ep. 86. ed. Fell, p. 2.31.
Irenceus associates the Cross with the Tree of Knorvledge. 33
them as real tokens of the greater blessing, with which they are § ii. 27.
associated ?
So far we have traced the chief mystical expositions, relating
to the Passion of our Lord, in the epistle of St. Barnabas ; and
we seem to perceive that they are but so many specimens (so
to call them) of as many groupes of allusions, constantly occur-
ring in the remains of the early Church.
(27.) There is yet one other aspect, in which the Wood or Tree
of the Cross was contemplated by the Church of the first ages,
VIZ. as bearing a designed reference to the fatal wood, or tree of
knowledge in Paradise. This is put plainly and forcibly by St.
Irenaeus, (v. 17,) in a passage which it may be well to quote at
length, as containing perhaps the best illustration that can be
given of this whole subject. He is demonstrating the harmony
of the Old and New Testaments, as different parts of the one
great scheme of salvation. And having first pointed to the light
thrown by the Incarnation of the Word on the statement, that
man was created after God's image, he proceeds to argue on
the Passion in the following way :
" Not only thus did the Lord manifest both the Father and
Himself, but also by His very Passion. For doing away with
that disobedience of mankind, which from the beginning had
taken place through the wood, or tree of knowledge. He be-
came obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross." The
rebellion, I say, which the one tree had occasioned. He heals by
that submission, which was wrought in the other. Whereas,
had He been announcing another Father, He could not, by this
sameness of subject, have indicated His coming to do away with
the disobedience which had been committed against our Creator.
But inasmuch as the very same things, which occasioned our
refusal to hear and obey God's word, were the instruments
whereby He introduced obedience and entire conformity to His
word, He openly shows Himself hereby to be that God, whom
in tlie first Adam we offended, not performing His command-
ment ; but in the second Adam we are reconciled to the same,
having become obedient unto death. For to no other were we
VOL. VI. — 89. D
Si No Mystical Allusions in Hermas, Ignatius, Polycarp.
ii. 28. debtors, but to Him, whose commandment also we transgressed
from the beginning." And presently after, " He hath blotted out
the handwriting of our debt, and fixed it to His cross, that
as by the tree we were made debtors to God, so by the tree we
might receive remission of our debt. Tliis hath been shown in
symbol through many, but more especially through the prophet
Elisha." Then after relating the miracle as above quoted by
Justin Martyr, Irenaeus proceeds, " Thus by action the prophet
showed, that the solid" (which word seems to mean *' enduring,
irresistible") " Word of God, which we through negligence had
lost and could not find, we shall recover through the dispensation
of the Tree or Wood. For that the axe is in some way a figure
of the Word of God, St. John the Baptist shows, speaking of
Him : ' Now also is the axe laid to the root of the trees.*
And Jeremiah in like manner says, ' The Word of the Lord
is an axe cleaving a rock '.' Him, then, before hidden from
us, the dispensation of the Tree or Wood hath now manifested.
For since by the tree we lost Him, by the tree again He hath
become evident unto all ; shewing in Himself the length, and
height, and depth, and breadth ; and as one of our elders said, by
the divine extension of His Hands, gathering the two peoples
unto one God. For the Hands are two, because there are also
two peoples, scattered to the ends of the earth ; but the Head
in the midst is one, because there is one God, who is over all,
and through all, and in us all."
(28.) In the other Apostolic Fathers, I do not know that more
than one instance occurs of the mystical mode of interpretation ;
but nothing is to be concluded from this omission, inasmuch as we
seldom or never find either Hermas, Ignatius, or Polycarp,
quoting the Old Testament at all. St. Hermas indeed hardly
quotes the New, perhaps because the parabolical air of his
treatise was better preserved by avoiding such definite allusions ;
or because (which seems not improbable) the sacred Books,
many of them, had not yet come into his hands. And of the
other two venerable Saints, it may be observed in general, that
» C. xxiii. 29.
St. Clemenl of Rome on the History of Rahab. 35
in no ))art of their writings had they occasion to enter into § "• 28.
debate, either with Jews or with impugners of the Old Testa-
ment ; which two controversies generally called forth the mystical
principle of interpretation in the subsequent age.
But in the epistle of St. Clement there is a well-known pas-
sage, which proves that by him, at least, that mode of exposi-
tion was neither unknown nor disapproved. Having related
the history of the harlot Rahab, as an argument of God's
blessing on faith as shown by hospitality, he proceeds*: " Ihey
went on to give her a sign, viz, that she should hang a scarlet
thread from her house ; foretokening this, that by the blood of
the Lord shall be redemption to all who believe and hope in
God. Behold, my beloved : not only faith, but prophecy was
in this woman." As if he had said, " It was not a simple case
of an individual sinner of the Gentiles preserved by faith ; but
God so highly favoured her, as to make her person and history a
prophecy by action, of the salvation which should be by the Cross."
Now this single instance, well considered, appears to bring
the question of the mystical interpretation, as it were, to a
point. Here is a writer (one is more than half afraid to speak
in such a tone of one who came so very near the Apostles,
but, if we must so speak of him, here is a writer) of the very
highest human claims ; the chosen, ordained friend of St. Paul
and St. Peter ; a person of the greatest practical good sense, as
every part of his epistle shows ; full of deep piety, and reverence
for the holy Scriptures of God ; of a flowing style, and abundant
in resources both of imagery and of language, so that he was not
under the temptation, which an ordinary writer might feel, of
inserting such topics as happened to present themselves, whether
satisfied with them himself or no : moreover, he was evidently
not carried away by a passion for allegorical interpretation as
such, as is proved by the fact that this of Rahab is the solitary
instance in which he employs it. Now, can we believe that such
a person, so circumstanced, writing in the most solemn way on the
most sacred of all subjects, and on an occasion which must have
recalled most forcibly the memory of St. Paul, his father in the
* 1 Ep. ad Cor. c. xii.
B 2
36 Rahah's Scarlet Thread, its Mystical Meaning :
§ ii. 28, faith, not long since dead : — can we believe that he could have
delivered such an exposition, and applied to it the sacred name
of Prophecy, publicly and authoritatively, speaking as he did for
the Church, and not for himself only : — had he not been sure that
he was uttering the mind of the Holy Ghost ? I much fear that
we do but betray our own comparative irreverence and indif-
ference towards God's holy and awful truth, when we are forward
to suspect His favoured and accredited servants of such light
extemporal dealing with His word. Surely the less violent sup-
position is, that St. Clement knew what he was saying, when he
thus taught or rather reminded the Church (for he speaks not as
conveying a new truth, but rather as exemplifying one already
acknowledged) that the colour of scarlet, providentially em-
ployed as a token and means of deliverance, was an earnest of
the Atoning Blood, to be sprinkled, like that of the Paschal
Lamb, over the door-ways of those who should be heirs of
salvation. Whereby he has also confirmed the analogous
interpretation of those places, where scarlet is enjoined as the
colour to be used in sprinkling and other legal purgations ; and
has sanctioned the notion of the many subsequent writers, by
whom that colour, whether found in Scripture or in nature, is
constantly regarded as oliceiov (to speak rhetorically) to the
Passion of our Lord : as much intended among colours to sym-
bolize His Blood, as the shape of the Cross among forms, or its
material, wood, among substances.
Whatever warrant he had for saying what he has said of
the call of Rahab, the same, or like it, Tertullian (e. g.)
may have had, for referring the text in Isaiah', — " Though
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow : though
they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool ;" — to the
different degrees of guilt incurred by the Jews, first as murderers
of the prophets, afterwards as crucifiers of our Lord. *' The word
crimson," says he, "denotes the blood of the Prophets; scarlet,
that of the Lord, as excelling in lustre." Irenaeus again, mixing
up his commentary with thoughts yet more awful*; "Rahab
the harlot, condemning herself as a heathen guilty of all kinds of
M. 18. » iv. 37.
confirmed out of Irenceus and Justin. 87
sin, received and hid within her home " (he does not say tivo, but § ii. 29.
three spies or watchers) " the Three Explorers who were explor-
ing the whole earth, the Father namely, and the Son, with the
Holy Ghost." Which words are not to be so understood, as if
Irenseus were affirming the Three Divine Persons to have then
revealed themselves visibly and personally ; since it is a material
part of the main argument of his work, to show that all visible
manifestations of the Eternal Father, in the times of the Old
Testament, were made through the only-begotten Son : but he
means, apparently, that Rahab and those like her, receiving those
who come in God's Name, do in fact receive Him. He goes on
with the history of Rahab ; '* When the whole city where she
dwelt had fallen into ruin at the sound of the seven trumpets, in
that extremity Rahab the harlot was preserved with her whole
house, by the faith implied in that sign of the scarlet thread :
even as the Lord declared to those who would not receive His
Advent, to the Pharisees, and such as make light of the sign of
the scarlet robe, which was also a token of the Passover, the re-
demption and withdrawing of the people from Egypt, — to the
despisers thereof, I say, the Lord declared, ' The publicans and
harlots take place of you in the kingdom of heaven.' " And Jus-
tin, in like manner ; adding a remark, that the messengers were
sent by Him who bore the Name of Jesus' ; "The symbol of the
scarlet line denoted the token of Christ's Blood, whereby men of
all nations, formerly impure and unjust, are saved, receiving
remission of sins, and sinning no more."
On this whole history we may remark, as on that of Jacob be-
fore, that it bears on a critical point in the progress of the great
dispensation, and on the continuation of the sacred line in which
Christ was to be born. Also, that each of the successive writers
(and the chain might be continued much further) notices, not
ambitiously but naturally, some circumstance unobserved by his
predecessors ; so that the whole, taken together, forms an allegory
much more complete and striking, than we find in either of the
statements taken singly. Dare any man deny, that these are
great marks of Truth, even according to our modern measures,
incompetent as they obviously are to these investigations ?
> Dial, cum Tryph. p. 338. D. ; Ed. Paris 163C.
38 St. Augusiin's Rule of mystical Exposition.
c jj; j_ (29.) We have thus endeavoured to trace one set of mystical allu-
sions, those, namely, which are drawn from the circumstances of our
Lord's Passion, through the interpretations of the Old Testament,
left us by the Apostolic Fathers ; and also to illustrate them
from the Fathers of the next generation, so far as to give some
idea of the kind of consent, in their mode of expounding, which is
found among them all : an agreement not in minute particulars,
as if they borrowed from one another, nor yet as if they
were bound down in common by any strict ritual, or hiero-
glyphical alphabet ; but rather in a way which cannot, perhaps,
be better expressed, than in the words of St. Augustin', where he
lays down the principle which guided him in the investigation of
historical types. " These secrets of Divine Scripture we trace
out as we may, one more or less aptly than another, but as be-
comes faithful men, holding thus much for certain ; that not with-
out some kind of foreshadowing of future events, were these
things done and recorded ; and that to Christ only, and His
Church, the City of God, are they to be referred in every
instance," so far as they are figurative.
On the true cause of this very general agreement, some consi-
derations will be offered hereafter, which may at least have the
effect of helping us all to think with seriousness of heart, on a
subject, which scholars in general have, perhaps, been apt to treat
over-lightly, not to say profanely ; so that, in speaking of it, a
person insensibly falls into the apologetic tone. But the more we
really come to know and think of it, the more deeply, perhaps,
shall we feel, that even that tone is inexcusable presumption,
compared with what would become us, in making mention of
those who come nearest the Apostles, and had in greatest per-
fection the mind of Christ.
§ iii. — The Literal Sense left entire hy the Mysticism of the Church.
No impression, I believe, is more general among ordinary
readers of theology, than this ; that beyond a strong tendency to
allegory, the Fathers had no definite principles at all, by which to
' De Civ. Dei, xvi. 2.
Supposed Vagueness of the mystical Exposition. 39
interpret Scripture, but only employed, in a rhetorical way, what- § iii. 2.
ever allusions best served the purpose of the moment. A
remarkable and not a very encouraging fact, if such really were
the case, that such a series of distinguished writers, — writers
whom their very censurers * allow to have greatly exceeded the
mass of their contemporaries, — zealously applying themselves to
this one work, and with a devotion and reverence as sincere,
in very many cases, as martyrdom could prove it ; — that these
should have gone on quite at random, and have been right, when
they were riglit, only by a happy chance. Nor would it seem
easy to reconcile such a statement with our Lord's command to
search the Scriptures, and with His implied and express pro-
mises of spiritual aid ; unless we were prepared to maintain, what
all history contradicts, that the Fathers either neglected the
Bible, or forfeited the promise of aid in the study of it by gross
heresy, or insincerity, proved by ill conduct.
But is the fact so, that they were without principles of inter-
pretation ? Is it not rather our want of steady attention and re-
verential industry in examining the whole subject, which makes
it seem so to us ? It is readily allowed that there exists a pecu-
liar difficulty, in evolving the patristical rules for expounding
Scripture, on which difficulty something will be presently said.
But that some such principles, however latent, do exist, we
might confidently gather from this one fact ; that no one, toler-
ably versed in their writings, would fail to detect their style of
interpretation, wherever he met with it, by something in its air
and tone ; something not the less real, because it may be to us
indescribable in words. Let any one, for example, compare the
commentary of Quesnel on the New Testament, or that of
Wogan on the Proper Lessons, both which are expressly founded
on the ancient glosses, with the explanations of Scripture inter-
spersed in the " Pilgrim's Progress." Both being to a high
degree allegorical, he will yet find the one throughout of a differ-
ent caste and family from the other.
(2.) Now it is no wonder if we find it difficult to seize in distinct
thought, and embody in language, the exegetic principles of the
' See Warburton, Int. to Julian, Works, iv- 340, 341. Ed. 1788.
40 How ne may best enter into the Fathers'' Meaning.
§ iii. 3. old Church writers, since, in all probability, few, if any, of them
were ever able to do so for themselves. With an instinctive
skill, acquired, in part at least, by long and zealous training of
themselves in that one department, they fell when any ex-
position or conjecture, which occurred to them, was (to use their
own word) Ecclesiastical, and when otherwise. It was a happy
sagacity, which could afford to dispense with all manner of
critical and argumentative development. They were natives,
and could speak the language idiomatically, without stopping to
recollect rules of grammar.
And here we seem to have no inconsiderable proof, that the
mystical interpretation was no result of a theory subsequently
introduced among Christians ; it was not this or that writer's
importation or invention, but it was from the beginning habitually
inwrought into the thoughts and language of the Catholic Church.
Hereby also we have suggested to us a way for attaining to a
virtual knowledge of their rules of interpretation, though we
perhaps may never be able, any more than they were, to trace
out those rules in language. We have only to exercise ourselves
much and deeply in their expositions of Holy Writ, and in the
same devout observances which we know they kept up, and we
too shall gain by degrees their practised eye — i^ efxireipiac ofifxa
— whereby to discern their first principles. This would be one
way, and on every account the best way, of convincing ourselves
that the mysticism of the early interpreters is not the vague,
unsettled, dreamy kind of view, which many of us are at first
hearing apt to imagine. We may set ourselves to study the
examples of it thoroughly in detail : and finding, as we shall in
a great proportion of them, a great deal more than we had
expected, we shall gradually and surely learn, both to value the
method more highly, and to understand it better.
(3.) With this view, some examples have been given above :
examples purposely selected, many of them, as the likeliest
to startle and scandalize a mere modern reader ; and some-
thing, it is hoped, has been done towards shewing, that in
those cases at least the holy Fathers well knew what they
were about ; that they proceeded, in interpreting Scripture, on
Ancient Mysticism assumed the Truth of Scripture History. 41
the surest ground — the warrant of Scripture itself in analogous § iii. 4, 5.
cases.
Another process, leading to the same conclusion, would be to
examine, fairly and fully, whether there be not certain limitations
which the Fathers carefully observe in their application of the
mystical method; certain bounds within which they confine
themselves, as did champions of old within the rules of the
tournevj in the utmost heat and speed of their career. Some
indeed of these rules are laid down in express words by the more
exact and argumentative of the Fathers: others we may gather
with sufficient assurance from the comparison of their comments.
To this subject, then, the limitations of the mystical exposition, as
they were generally recognized by Antiquity, we are to address
ourselves in the present stage of the inquiry.
(4.) The first and most obvious of these rules of limitation was,
not to lose sight of the letter ; to reserve in every mystical com-
ment the foundation of historical and literal truth. This, as
all men know, is one of the points on which the Fathers have
been most confidently assailed ; but, as a few plain considera-
tions will show, most unjustly.
For, first, the evidences of the Christian religion were from
the beginning chiefly historical : such as the records of the life
of Christ, the ministration of the Apostles, and the facts by
which, in the old dispensation, God had authorized His messages
by His prophets. The faith had been received in the first
instance, as to the main body of it, in the plain literal and histo-
rical sense. It was so accepted by the mass of believers, as the
Old Testament had ever been by the mass of the Jews ; and surely
appeal might be made without hesitation to those who are really
versed in Christian Antiquity, whether even the most daring mys-
tics among them do not all along assume the truth of the history ;
whether the mere allegory, which they sometimes appear to main-
tain, be at worst more than an exception to a general law ; a
resort in difficulties ; a solecism, not a rule.
(5.) But secondly, if in any case they seem to press the allegory
beyond this, there are considerations which would lead a sound
critic to be cautious in urging their statements in that kind
42 The Fathers, not refined Critics.
§ iii. 5. further than their very words oblige us to go. There are reasons
which should induce us to give them all the benefit of any
qualification or ambiguity which their expressions admit of, — to
construe all that is equivocal in favour of the literal meaning.
Were they not in a great measure free from some of the tempta-
tions, which have ever been found most effective, in inducing
inconsiderate commentators to deal over freely with the letter of
the Divine Records ? These temptations have commonly arisen,
on the one hand, from over refinement in philosophical and moral
subjects ; on the other hand, from critical skill, and dexterity in
sifting statements on matters of fact. Of the first head, philo-
sophical and moral allegory, something will be said by-and-
by, when we come to the case of those Fathers, who are allowed
to have erred in exaggerating the mystical sense. But their
general deficiency in critical and historical acuteness is noto-
riously one of the most popular charges against them, and one
of the reasons most frequently given for not deferring to their
authority in Scripture interpretation. Those who judge so of
them, must at least allow that they were, so far, exempt from
that temptation to take liberties with the text of Scripture,
which historical and critical difficulties continually offer.
For example, had Origen been as unversed in critical discus-
sion, as were, on this hypothesis, the majority of the Fathers, he
would not have been driven, by a supposed chronological diffi-
culty, to throw discredit generally on the letter of the evange-
lical narrative. So at least he is supposed to have done, in com-
menting on St. John's account of our Saviour's return to
Galilee after the temptation. Not finding how to reconcile that
account with those of the other Evangelists, he says', (if his words
indeed are rightly so translated,) " The truth concerning these
things must needs be lodged out of sight in their secondary and
spiritual signification. The discrepancy being so accounted for,
ve need not relax in any measure our faith regarding the Gospel
narratives, as though they were either untrue, or destitute of any
peculiar divine inspirationy or failing in their proper office as
^ In Joan. t. x. r. 2.
Advantage of this illustrated from Ortgen. 43
memorials." Then having stated the difficulty at length, he § iii. 6.
concludes, " In this and many cases besides, whoever will care-
fully examine the Gospels with a view to any disagreement in
the narrative, it will either cause him with a sort of mental
giddiness to give up the claim of the Gospels to absolute autho-
rity, and chnse one of them at random to adhere to, as not ven-
turing to repudiate entirely the faith of our Lord ; or, if he still
admit all four, he will consider their truth to be lodged some-
where else, than in the outward material words, and letters, and
syllables." The amount of Origen's meaning in this passage
may perhaps be a subject of discussion by-and-by. At present
it is quoted simply for the sake of pointing out the danger
incurred by habits of searching criticism, viz. that it leads men,
on discovering flaws, to them, incurable, to think more slightly
than they ought of the letter of the Bible altogether. It is the
genius of modern philology, to cut all such knots, by expressing
or insinuating more or less of doubt, as to the plenary inspira-
tion of the Scriptures. Some of the ancients, not perhaps more
logically, but with at least as much of religious awe and rever-
ence, had recourse, we see, in the like cases, to the supposition
of mere allegory intermixed with the truth. But the far greater
number of them, being, as their opponents complain, quite
" uncritical," i. e. taking the text as they found it, and not
perplexing themselves with difficulties of construction and
harmony, were free at least from this one undue bias towards
the secondary sense.
(6.) A still stronger and more universal preservative must have
been the unfeigned and singular veneration, with which they ever
regarded the Holy Book, Whatever else may be laid to the
Fathers' charge, even the most scornful and bitter of their censors
have been constrained to admit the paramount value which they
set on their Bibles, and their thorough acquaintance with them.
Even where ihey mysticised improperly, their ordinary motive
was a sincere veneration for the Scriptures ; whose dignity, they
sometimes with some plausibility argued, could not stand with
the literal sense. This was a sliortsighted and erroneous feeling,
so far as it may have wanted that wise and simple faith, which
44 The Fathers' great Reverence for the Bible :
§ iii. 6. would have caused them at once to receive the very letter, without
hoping or pretending to explain all difficulties. Still, there was
a feeling here of affectionate and dutiful though mistaken loyalty ;
like St. Peter's, when he took hold of our Lord and began to
rebuke and contradict Him ; saying, " Be it far from Thee, Lord ;
this shall not be unto Thee."
Accordingly, when Origen goes off" to the mystical sense, it
is with him almost always a matter of reverent and earnest
prayer.
Thus, having given a careful and sensible commentary on the
literal account in Genesis of the building of the ark, he proceeds ' :
•' Now, first beseeching His indulgence, who alone is able to
withdraw the veil from the reading of the Old Testament, let us
try and make out what spiritual edification also is contained in
the raising of this august fabric, the ark."
Again, in his exposition of the parable of the unmerciful servant* :
" It is no small matter to express, according to the full mean-
ing of our Saviour, who are meant by the various persons intro-
duced in this parable : . . . indeed, the very truth of these things,
I am bold to affirm, no one shall be able to utter, unless the same
Jesus, who privately expounded these things to His own disci-
ples, have entered in to dwell in his mind, and open there all the
treasures contained in the parable; dark, hidden, far out of sight.
.... I, for my part, — as one who has not yet obtained in suf-
ficiency that mind which can thoroughly penetrate and mingle
with the mind of Christ, that mind which can go on and reach
to the end of so great things, that mind which, aided by the
Spirit, can search all, even the depths of God — am able as yet to
form but an indefinite notion of the details of this passage."
The expression of awe is, perhaps, still more remarkable, when
he draws back from an interpretation which he had actually
entered on : as one who caught himself unawares intruding
further into the sanctuary than he had intended. It is on the
Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard*: *' Seeking out," he
1 Horn. 2. in Gen. § 3. t. ii. 63. A. Ed. Bened. 1733.
» Coram, in Matt. xiv. § 11. t. iii. 629. B, C, E.
» In Matt. XV. §31. t. iii. 699. B.
Examples from Origen and St. Augustin. 45
says, " what might be the ' one day,' which Hmits the time of this § iii. 7.
parable, .... I have unwarily taken some steps into certain of
the deeps of Almighty God ; lacking as I do that Spirit which
searcheth all things, even tlie deep things of God."
Surely the tone of mind here apparent could not exist, without
a profound veneration for the letter itself and literal meaning, the
garb and outward vehicle of truths so revered and precious. Surely
it could have been only by comparison, if ever the same writers
seem to disparage the letter. And in fact we find that few
authors have done more for the elucidation of the historical sense,
or given more unsparingly the best practical proof of reverence,
unwearied religious diligence in trying to understand. So that
with respect to the threefold method of interpretation, which he
is known to have generally adopted, a partial judge might almost
say of him, and of others like him, as contrasted with modern
inquirers, that he had three Bibles to read and we but one ; not
a jot or tittle failing in his reverence for the body of the sacred
Book, compared with ours, while he enjoys, what we generally
want, the privilege of contemplating its soul and spirit also.
(7.) Now, if even Origen, the known champion of the allegorical
method, felt and practised such regard for the Letter of Scripture,
it is surely unnecessary to multiply quotations, in proof of the
general opinion of the Church on that subject : her impartial
veneration for the whole of the Divine Book, her deep, faithful,
and undoubting reception of every part, both in its obvious and
in its abstract senses, according to the fulness of the meaning of
the Spirit of God. There is a striking passage in St. Augustin,
which collects, as it were, into a point, the confessions on this
head of every generation of believers*. "The style itself in
which Holy Scripture is framed, how open is it to every one's
approach, how impossible to be searched out by any but a very
few ! What things it contains that are obvious and open, those,
like a familiar friend, it speaks simply to the heart, both of un-
learned and learned. As to those, on the other hand, which it
hides in mysteries, neither does it elevate them by lofty speech,
such as might deter from a nearer approach the dull and untaught
• Ep. 137. § 18. 1. ii. p. 310.
46 Doctrinal Views of the Fathers
§ iii. 8. mind, as a poor man sometimes fears to approach a rich one ;
but Scripture invites all by a lowly kind of speech, intending not
only to feed all with obvious truth, but also to exercise and
prove all by that truth which is remote from view : having in its
easy parts whatever its hard parts contain. But lest, being open
to view, they should incur contempt, the same truths again are
made desirable by concealment ; to meet the desire, they are, as
it were, produced anew ; and being so renewed, they insinuate
themselves with a kind of delight. Thus wholesome correction
is provided for corrupt minds, wholesome nourishment for feeble
minds, and wholesome enjoyment for great minds. That mind
alone is set against this teaching, which either through error
knows not its healing power, or through sickness loathes it as
medicine." Men who were so minded towards the whole Book
of God, — would it not require overpowering evidence to convince
us that they commonly passed by with disdain the letter of
Scripture ? yet they have been charged with no less than this.
(8.) The improbability of such allegations becomes yet more
glaring, when we take into account the universal cast and tenour
of the Fathers' doctrinal views. This is a consideration, indirectly
indeed, yet really and materially, bearing on the present discus-
sion. Ever since the Church began, she has felt that she had to
guard against a tendency to over-refinement and affected spi-
rituality. There has been danger lest the body, so to call it, of
important truths, should be exhausted and exhaled away, in their
supposed moral and imaginative meaning. This is the error of the
people called Friends, and in general of the rationalists of modern
days. It was also the error of the Gnostics of old, who denied, as
is well known, the reality of the Incarnation and Passion of our
Lord, the Resurrection of the Body, the identity of the Creatok
with the Redeemer ; and whatever other portions of Christian
belief appeared to them in any way mixed up with things outward,
material, and bodily. Against these, in the beginning as now,
the Church of God always protested, maintaining the literal
reality of these Truths, as she now maintains the real efficacy of
material Sacraments, in opposition to the refinements of philo-
sophy and vain deceit. Now it was a sort of index to this first
a Security against the mere Allegory. 47
heretical school, their denying the historical meaning of Holy § iii. 8.
Scripture ; as may be seen in many parts of Irenseus. His state-
ments are like ihe following*: "These vainest of sophists main-
tain that the Apostles taught not truly but feignedly, according to
the capacity of their hearers ; that they framed their answers to '
suit the prejudices of those who at any time were asking them
questions ; discoursing with the blind blindly, according to their
blindness, and with the sick according to their sickness, and
with the erring according to their error. Thus, to such as
imagined that the Creator was the only God, they made Him
tlie subject of their preaching; but to those who are able to
receive the unutterable Father, they administered by parables
and allegories the unspeakable mystery: thus making it cut
that our Lord and His Apostles gave instruction, not according
to the tenor of the very truth, but in pretence, and according to
the capacity of each."
Such are the complaints brought against heretical theorists, by
the ecclesiastical writers of those days. Had we no direct
evidence on the subject, passages of this sort would warrant us
in concluding, that the early Church held to the literal Scripture
as her foundation, whatever superstructure of mystical or moral
truth she might know and believe herself entitled to build upon
it. For there is a natural and very distinct analogy between the
doctrines which reject the body, and the expositions which
reject the letter. We perceive at once that they belong in their
several kinds to the same turn of mind, the same school of
opinions. And on the other hand, the straightforward unflinch-
ing faith, which is always content to take God's work as He has
made it, will of course be willing also to accept His word as He
has taught it. " When I hear of grass," says St. Basil ^ remark-
ing on the excessive proneness to the mere allegory, by which
some had explained away the history in the first chapter of
Genesis, " when I hear of grass, I understand it to mean grass,
and so of plants, and fishes, and beasts, and cattle ; allof them, as
they are spoken, so I receive. For neither am I ashamed of the
» III. 5. » Hexaem. ix. 1.
48 The early Heretics apt to deny the Letter,
§ ill. 9. Gospel." And a little further on : " In the oracles of the Spirit
I desire to glorify Him, who has not employed our understanding
on vain things, but has dispensed all so as to be written for our
edification, and the perfecting of our souls. Of which truth, as I
think, some not being aware, have tried, by I know not what
allurements and figures of speech, to get the Scriptures credit for
a kind of dignity, which in fact is of their own devising. But this
is to make one's self wiser than the oracles of the Spirit, and
under the show of interpretation, covertly to introduce matter of
our own. As it is written then, so let our understanding be."
(9.) There occurs however in the history of early corruptions
one case, which would appear at first sight to militate strongly
against the reality of the connection here supposed, between
fantastic doctrine and interpretation merely allegorical. I mean
the case of Marcion of Pontus. He distinguished himself from
the main body of the heretics of his time, by denying that
Scripture was ever to be understood in any sense but that ot
the bare letter : at the same time that he agreed with them in
rejecting the truth of Christ's Body, the resurrection of our
bodies, and the other doctrines above alluded to.
But see what line Marcion was obliged to take, in conse-
quence of this extraordinary combination of opinions. He
boldly discarded the whole of the Old Testament, as the work of
an evil, at least of an inferior being. He retained moreover of
the New Testament only one Gospel, St. Luke's, and the Epistles
of St. Paul. And to make these at all seem to bear witness in
his favour, he was constrained to dislocate and alter the text to
a very considerable extent.
It is not within our present scope to show how inconsistent,
after all, his admitted Scriptures were with his shadows of doc-
trine : Tertullian has done so at large, and with more, if possible,
than his usual acuteness, in his two last books against Marcion :
but the point material to be here noticed is, his sympathizing
with the other heretics, and contradicting the Catholic Church,
in his irreverence for the letter of Scripture : the only difference
being, that he chose rather to take the ground of the Jews of
his time, and, in effect, that of our modern rationalists, by denying
Apparent, not real, Exception in the Marcionites. 49
the inspiration of the portions which most perplexed him ; instead § Hi- 10.
of wresting them, as most heretics did, by various figures, to his
own construction.
Thus it appears that tlie proceedings of Marcion form no
such exception as should invalidate the general rule ; and the
position stands good, that the Church of the Fathers, main-
taining as it did the doctrines which the Docetae denied, was
very unlikely to give undue sanction to their merely allegorical
mode of interpreting Scripture ; just as the same Church, even
yet, arguing with rationalists, refuses to admit that " fire in
the prophecy of St. John the Baptist is quenched with the name
of the Holy Ghost, or with the name of the Spirit, water dried
up in the words of Christ \" concerning the new birth.
(1 0.) The drift of all these antecedent probabilities is this : that
whatever affirmations are found in ecclesiastical writers strongly
in favour of the letter of holy Scripture, are to be credited for
their full apparent amount ; but for those comparatively rare
instances, in which they have permitted themselves to speak
lightly of the literal meaning, every kind of allowance ought
to be made ; they must be taken, so to speak, at a considerable
discount.
Consider, for example, the opening sentences of St. Augustin's
treatise, "De Genesi ad literam''." "The whole Scripture
of God is twofold ; according to the intimation of our Lord,
when He said, ' Every^ scribe instructed into the kingdom of
heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, bringing out
of his treasure things new and old.' .... In the relation there-
fore of things done, one has always to inquire whether each
particular is to be received in the figurative sense only, or to
be affirmed and maintained as to the actual verity of the
facts. For to deny that there are things to be figuratively
understood no Christian man will venture, remarking the words
of the Apostle, ' All these things befel them in figure ;' as also
where he commends to us, as a great mystery relating to Christ
' Hooker, E. P. v. 50. 3.
» t. iii. pars 1. p. 90 ; Ed. Bened. 1702.
VOL. VI. — 89.
iSO St. Auguit'm's jealous care of the Literal Sense.
§ '»• 10. and the Church, the expression in Genesis, ' And tliey two
shall be one flesh.' "
This place has been quoted ' as an instance of extravagance
in urging the secondary sense, on account, probably, of the
possibility intimated in one part of it, that in some cases there
may be no true literal or historical sense. But, according to the
rule above laid down for interpreting the Fathers on this subject,
it is but fair to understand by St. Augustin's doubtful cases, those
which may reasonably be considered more or less parabolical ;
such as Nathan's reproof of David, or our Lord's account of
the Prodigal Son. It would be doing him injustice, to charge him
^ with throwing doubt hereby on any part of the series of sacred
history.
On the other hand, when we find the same Father arguing as
follows in favour of the reality of Paradise, and of the history of
our first parents, we need not hesitate to believe, that he meant
his argument to extend, as by parity of reasoning it would extend,
to every other portion of the regular inspired narrative. " Those *,"
says he, " of our faith, who believe these divine books, but like
not to have Paradise understood according to the very letter, i. e.
a most pleasant place, shaded with groves of fruit trees, of
immense extent, too, and fertilized by a copious fountain ; seeing
as they do, without any labour of man, so many green glades over-
shadowed with forests by the secret working of the Almighty : —
I wonder how they believe the corresponding narrative of the
formation of the man, in a way like nothing which ever met their
eyes. Or if that, too, must be understood figuratively ; who begat
Cain, Abel, and Seth ? Were they likewise mere figures, not
men born of mankind ? I would advise men, therefore, narrowly
to consider what is the drift of the notion they are inclined to
assume, and to endeavour with us to understand all things, related
as facts in the first instance, as they are literally expressed. That
once done, every one will look kindly on their views of what the
same things teach also by figurative expression, either of spiritual
1 Whitby, Pref. in Diss, de Interp. S. S. p. Iviii,
' De Genes, ad lit. viii. 4.
In what Case St. Augustin allowed the mere Allegory. 51
natures themselves and spiritual processes, or of events yet to § "•• 10.
come.
*' I grant that if we could not receive in a bodily sense the things
here named as bodily, without doing violence to the faith of the
truth, nothing would remain but that we must understand them
to be figurative expressions, rather than cast impious reflections
on Holy Scripture. But if the bodily acceptation of these things
be so far from embarrassing, that it rather more firmly establishes,
the general statements of God's word, I should not expect to
find any one so full of heathenish obstinacy, as to abide by any
old opinion, which he may have formed in favour of the mere
allegorical exposition, after seeing the whole explained literally
in accordance with the Rule of Faith."
He then proceeds to state, as the very occasion of his writing
that treatise, a wish to improve on a former exposition of Genesis,
which he had undertaken against the Manichaeans ; and in which,
not being able at that time to make out the literal meaning, he had
assigned to many things an interpretation merely allegorical'.
" Still," says he, " even then, keeping in mind that which was all
along chiefly in my wish though beyond my power, viz. that every
thing in the first instance should be understood not in figure but
literally, and not despairing altogether that such an understanding
might le acquired, I expressed that feeling in the opening of the
second book. My words are, * Whosoever desires to understand
every thing according to the sound of the letter, provided he can
avoid blasphemies, and all that he affirms be agreeable to the
Catholic Faith, his labours must not be taken grudgingly : rather
we must account of him as understanding the Scriptures in the
proper sense of the word, understanding.' " That such from the
beginning was St. Augustin's feeling, — that he always preferred
the literal sense as the foundation, and only had recourse to the
purely figurative, when, as he conceived, the analogy of the faith
required it, — he gave the most satisfactory proof, by going over
the same ground, writing a more literal commentary, when in
process of time maturer reflection had brought to his knowledge
more of the literal meaning.
* De Gen. ad lit. viii. 5.
E 2
52 The mere Allegory used to save the Rule of Faith.
§ iii. 11, 12. (1 1 .) I say, when the analogy of the faith required it ; for this is
a very remarkable circumstance in tlie patristical mode of devia-
ting from the letter of Scripture, especially as compared w ith those
adopted by more modern interpreters : viz. that whereas these
latter are commonly moved to set it aside by some apparent
inconsistency with the truths of philosophy or history, some
scruple of human reason ; the only sufficient plea for such devia-
tion, in the judgment of such critics as St. Augustin, was the
impossibility of reconciling the letter with the Rule of Faith.
Thus, in the passage quoted above, the excepted cases are
described as follows : " Si nuUo modo pcssent salva fide veritatis
corporaliter accipi :" " Si nullus exitus datur, ut pie et d'igne Deo
quae scripta sunt intelligantur, nisi figurate proposita credamus."
And let it not be imagined that by the phrase, " pie et digne
Deo," a door is opened for the unlimited intrusion of each person's
private judgment. The phrase is sufficiently explained by one
which had occurred a few lines above : " praedicare omnia con-
gruentia fidei catholicae." That was to be judged pious and wor-
thy of God, which agreed, not with this or that man's preconceived
notions of the divine proceedings and attributes, but with the body
of scriptural truth set forth by the Church from the beginning.
If, then, we may suppose St. Augustin here to speak the general
sense of ecclesiastical writers on this subject, we shall see that
the utmost extent, to which the Church encouraged the use of the
exposition by mere allegory, was to bear with it as a possible or
at most as a probable hypothesis, in cases where the letter
seemed irreconcileable with the analogy of the Faith ; always
allowing for the chance of some more favoured commentator
solving the difficulty without this extreme resort.
(12.) But the true ecclesiastical rule of interpretation will be
put in a stronger light, if we consider the case of Origen and his
school, and the degree in which they incurred the suspicion, if not
the censure, of the Church. And we may notice, by the vvay, a
remarkable instance of the liard measure which has been dealt
out to the Fathers, by those who were resolved, at all events, for
whatever reason, to derogate from their authority. It is the
usual manner of proceeding, with such writers as Daille, Whitby,
Unfair Mode of arguing on Origen^s Case. 53
Middleton, and the rest, to quote largely from the censures of § "'• '^•
St. Jerome and others, pronounced on the Origenists for their ex-
travagance in the allegorical way, and then to turn suddenly round,
and use these same censures, as if they were applicable to the
whole body of the Fathers ; especially to St. Jerome himself
and the rest who were eager in promulgating them.
But surely the censure might speak the opinion of the Church,
though, from human infirmity and inconsistency, the persons
pronouncing it might themselves incur it elsewhere.
Again, it should be well considered whether St. Jerome, St.
Basil, and others, commonly quoted on this matter, are depreca-
ting the allegorical system itself, or only the particular abuse of it
now under examination, viz. the occasional suppression of the
letter for the allegory's sake. It may be some help towards
estimating rightly the judgment of the Fathers on the whole sub-
ject, if a few words be here added, first on the real amount of
the concessions of the Alexandrian school in disparagement of the
letter ; next on the real amount of Church censure, properly so
called, which that school incurred, on that ground, in the person
of Origen, the most renowned, and therefore perhaps the most
obnoxious, of all its champions.
(IS.) And first, as to the extent of liberty taken by Origen with
the literal sense of the Bible : it is but just to begin with stating,
that his faith in the plenary inspiration of Holy Writ, those parts
of it even which he is most accused of denying, is as unquestion-
able as it can be rendered, both by the tone of cordial reverence
in every part, and also by repeated glowing professions like the
following ^:
" By this brief demonstration of the divinity of Jesus, and
application of the prophetical words concerning Him, we do in
effect demonstrate at the same time the Divine inspiration of the
Scriptures which prophesy of Him, and also of the writings which
relate His sojourn here and His teaching ; writings which were
uttered with all authority and power, and have thereby become
victorious over the elect portion of the Gentiles. It should be
added that the divinity of the prophetic words, and the spiritu-
ality of Moses' law, shone forth only in consequence of the
1 De Princip. iv. 6. t. i. 161.
54 Origen's devout Use of the Scriptures.
§ iii. 14. [earthly] sojourn of Jesus. For evident proofs of the inspiration
of the ancient Scriptures, before Christ's sojourn liere, it was not
possible to exhibit ; but the Law and the Prophets, before liable
to suspicion, whether they were indeed things Divine, had a clear
light cast on them by the residence of Jesus on earth, as being
composed and written by a grace from above. And he who with
care and attention studies the prophetic words, feeling as he will
on the bare reading a kind of enthusiasm stealing over him, will
be convinced by his feelings that they are no writings of men,
which we believe to be the words of God. The light, too, which
existed before in the Law of Moses, wrapped up in a veil, shone
forth at the time of our Lord's abode here ; the veil being taken
away, and the good things, which were shadowed by the letter,
coming gradually into full knowledge."
(14.) Next, I observe, that in general, i. e. with comparatively
few exceptions, and those always particularly accounted for, Origen
did not only receive the letter, but acknowledge the historical
meaning, of the Holy Book. This will be sufficiently evident by
a few citations, falling into two separate groupes. The first will
consist of passages in which he inculcates his much canvassed
maxim of a Triple Sense of Scripture : the other, of express or
incidental cautions, in the course of his commentary, over and
over enforced upon his hearers, not to lose sight of the letter in
the brightness of the Spirit.
The Triple Sense of Scripture is most expressly set forth in a
well-known passage of the Fourth Book Trtpt ap^wv^ " We ought
to transcribe into our own souls the meaning of the Holy Writings
in three several ways : in the first place, that the simpler may be
edified by what may be called thejlesh or body of the Scripture,
by which name we denote the obvious, literal acceptation : in the
next place, that he who has attained to a certain height, may re-
ceive edification from that which is as it were the soul of the
same Scripture : thirdly, that he who is perfect, and like those of
whom the Apostle speaks as fit to have wisdom spoken among
them — wisdom not of this world — that they too may be edified
out of that spiritual law, which has the shadow of good things to
come. For as man is compounded of body, and soul, and Spirit,
1 § xi. t. i. 168.
Origen on the Triple Sense of Scripture. 55
so is the Scripture, dispensed by God by way of gift for the § iii. 14.
salvation of men."
Again, in a noble passage of the fifth Homily on Leviticus \ —
which may be cited the more at length, on account of the light which
it seems to throw on the analogy above alleged, as existing be-
tween the doctrines of the Fathers and heretics respectively, and
their methods of interpreting Scripture : — " The details of the law
concerning sacrifices are," he observes, '* to be received in a dif-
ferent sense from that which the literal text points out. Else,
when they are publicly read in the Church, they tend rather to
the hindrance and subversion of the Christian faith, than to the
admonition and edification of men. But if we search and find in
what sense these things are said, and mark them, as they ought
who think of God, who is the declared author of these laws ;
then the hearer will become a Jew indeed, but * a Jew inwardly,'
according to the distinction of St. Paul in the epistle to the Ro-
mans ; which distinction of the inward and outward Jew, cer-
tain impious heretics not understanding, have withdrawn them-
selves not from the Scriptures only, but from God also, the Giver
of this law and of the divine Scriptures to mankind, and have
feigned to themselves another God, besides the Maker of Heaven
and Earth : whereas, as you know, the verity of the faith holds
one and the same God of the Law and of the Gospel, the Creator
alike of visible and invisible things : the rather, because the
things visible retain with invisible no small affinity ; so that the
Apostle affirms, 'the invisible things of God, from the creation of
the world,' to be seen, * being understood by the things which are
made.* As therefore a mutual affinity exists between things
visible and invisible, earth and heaven, soul and fiesh, body and
spirit, and of combinations of these is made up this present
world : so also Holy Scripture, we may believe, is made up of
visible and invisible parts : first, as it were, of a kind of body
i. e. of the letter which we see with our eyes: next of a soul,
i. e. of the sense which is discovered within that letter: thirdly,
of a spirit, so far as it contains also in itself certain heavenly things ;
as says the Apostle, ' they serve to the example and shadow of
things celestial.'
' § i. t. ii. p. 205.
56 Origen's Allegories, how reconcileable with Reserve.
§ iii. 15. " Such then being the case, let us, first calling on God, who
made of Scripture both the body, and soul, and spirit — the body
for those who were before us, the soul for ourselves, the spirit
for those who in time to come shall obtain the inheritance of
eternal life, whereby to win their way to the heavenly kingdoms ;
— let us now seek that soul of the law which I have mentioned, so
far as belongs to our present subject."
(15.) One may remark, by the way, that the opening of this state-
ment enables us in some measure to solve one principal difficulty
connected with the allegorical method ; viz, how it came to pass
that in public and popular discourses, discourses to the un bap-
tized, Origen and others so continually and unreservedly publish
these mystical expositions ; expositions which themselves repeat-
edly compare to strong meat, hardly fit therefore for the babes
and beginners in Christ. This is to be accounted for, pro-
bably, much in the same manner as the publication of the
Three Creeds, and putting the mysteries of our faith in every
one's mouth ; it was in itself not desirable, nay rather contrary to
Church principles : but the Jews and perverse heretics made it
necessary, each endeavouring, for their own purposes, to main-
tain that the Old Testament was contrary to the New : a position
which could not in strict reasoning be met satisfactorily, unless
by divulging the secret of the allegorical meaning. Origen
himself speaks feelingly of this difficulty, in the course of his re-
marks on the parable of the Unmerciful Servant \ " But some
one will say, are we not acting irreligiously in wishing these
things to convey a meaning, because of the heavenly Book's secret
and mystical nature in some parts ? Are we not wrong in trying
to expound these things ? however accurately, for argument's sake,
we may suppose ourselves to have made out the drift of them."
The tenor of his answer is this : that it was by no means his
custom, to trust his ordinary hearers with all the mysterious
wonders, which he seemed to himself faintly to discern in Scrip-
ture, but that he always suggested those which he judged best for
edifying : of which edification, one necessary groundwork would
be, the securing the flock against the prevailing heresies.
(1 6.) But to proceed with our reasons for attributing, even to the
> In Matt. Horn. xiv. § 12, t. iii. p. 630. D.
Clement of Alexandria recognizes the literal meaning. 57
allegorical school, a high respect for the literal sense. Clement § iii. 16.
of Alexandria, Origen's predecessor, in discoursing on the two
senses, (for it docs not appear that it had occurred to him to dis-
tinguish the Moral from the Mystical ; as Origen afterwards did,
influenced perhaps by a desire to retain together with the Chris-
tian interpretation as much as he could of the morality which
he admired in Philo' ;) Clement, I say, among other very many
psssages to the same effect, has one in which he refers to a
Rabbinical tradition, remarkable at least for poetical force and
beauty : that " when God took Moses to Himself, Joshua
saw him in two forms ; in one with angels, in the other on
the mountains and among the ravines receiving sepulchral
honours. This sight Joshua beheld from above, being lifted up
in the Spirit, together with Caleb. . . . The drift of the history
being, I suppose, to show that true knowledge does not belong
to all, but some behold only the body of the Scriptures, the
words and sentences, as it were the body of Moses : others see
through to the meaning and the things signified by the words,
making that Moses who is with the angels the object of their
search. In fact, of those who called on tlie Lord Himself, the
greater part said only, ' Son of David, have mercy on me ;' but
some few acknowledged Him to be the Son of God, as Peter;
whom also He blessed, because not flesh and blood had re-
vealed to him the truth, but His Father which is in heaven:
whereby Christ showed, that the perfect Christian recognises
the Son of the Almighty, not by the flesh which was conceived
and born, but by the very power of the Father."
Such passages as these lose their force, except we understand
the letter of Scripture to have, in the opinion of these writers,
a real and substantial meaning, as the bodies of our Lord and
of Moses were real and substantial.
The same remark may be made on the only place, that I know
of, in which Clement seems to come near the Origenian doctrine
of the three significations. " The purport of the law," he says,
" we must take, either as declaring to us some sign," (t. e. as it may
' Strom, vi. c. xv. § 132.
58 Origen's Rule for maintaining the Letter of Scripture :
I iii J7 seem, some instance of Divine interference,) "or as establishing
some commandment for right conversation, or as uttering an
oracle in the manner of a prophecy." Here it is plain that the
first or historical meaning is by no means slighted or annulled,
since to it is ascribed the office of declaring signs from heaven.
(1 7.) VVemayproceed nowto somecitationsfromOrigen, belong-
ing to the second of the two classes specified above : cases, namely,
in which he warns his hearers, more or less expressly, that the
letter is by no means abolished. First, there is a remarkable
fragment produced by the Martyr Pamphilus, which, on the whole,
we may cite without scruple, notwithstanding the suspicions cast
by St. Jerome and others, on the good faith or genuineness of the
Apology for Origen, which went under Pamphilus's name. For it
has no relation to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, which was the
occasion of the corruptions specified by Jerome ; and again, it has
all the internal evidence, which can arise from agreement with
Origen's ordinary interpretations. Thus then Pamphilus repre-
sents him as speaking of the evangelical narrative generally \
" Though these things have a spiritual meaning, yet the truth
of the history being first establislied, the spiritual sense is to be
taken as something over and above. For what if our Lord, in
a spiritual sense, be always curing the blind, wiien He casts His
light on minds blinded with ignorance : yet He did not the less
at that time heal one corporally blind. And He is ever raising
the dead : yet He did then really perform wonders of that kind
also, as when He raised Jairus' daughter, and the widow's son,
and Lazarus. And though at ail times, when awakened by His
disciples. He quiets the storms and whirlwinds of His Cliurch ;
yet it is unquestionable that those things also, which are related
in the history, really took place on that occasion. This therefore
is the only sound way of receiving the sense of Scripture ; nor
ought we to lend an ear to those who affirm, that He was born
bi/ Mary, not of Mary." In which last sentence the connection
above noticed is obvious, between the historical sense and the
Catholic doctrine.
The following are instances of detail, which prove how care-
• Apol. pro Orig. p. 36; D. ad calc. Orig. Ed. Bened. t. iv.
Instances of it in Detail. 59
fully Origen carried this rule out in practice. In his commen- § iii. 17-
tary on our Lord's future coming in the glory of His Father
with His angels, he had spoken thus ', *' Consider whether one
may not say, that the Prophets in their sufferings of old bore an
analogy to the Word, which had no form nor comeliness ; but
as the Son of Man cometh in the glory of His Father, so the
Words abiding in the Prophets appear with Him, having become
Angels, keeping up in a kind of due proportion the glory which
appertains to them." This allusive exposition, modestly enough
proposed, he follows up with words of caution. " These things
we say, by no means slighting the doctrine of the second coming
of the Son of God, as it is more simply understood."
In the commentary on Genesis', he answers the trite objec-
tions to the history of the ark, — how it could contain such a mul-
titude of animals, and the like, — by a calculation as to its admea-
surement, which supposes the account literally true ; and on this,
as a foundation, proceeds to build his allegorical exposition ;
thereby shewing that he did not spare trouble to avoid the
mere allegory, wherever it seemed possible.
When he comes to tlie birth of Isaac, having quoted the well-
known passage from the Epistle to the Galatians, he asks',
" What then ? was not Isaac born after the flesh ? did not Sarah
bear him ? was not he circumcised ? this very sport of his with
Ishmael, did it not take place in the flesh ? This is the remark-
able point in the Apostle's exposition, that those thin s even,
concerning which there can be no doubt of their having been
done in the flesh, he affirms to be allegorical."
Having proposed a mystical interpretation of Abraham's mar-
riage with Keturah and his second family, he adds an observation,
which evinces that he did not think of annulling the historical
sense*. " If we remember the historical notices of the genera-
tions derived from her, we shall the more easily make out [the
trutli] about several nations mentioned in the Scripture, e. t.
> In Matt. xii. 30 ; torn. iii. 549. A.
» In Gen. Horn. 2. t. ii. p. 59—63.
" In Gen. Horn, 7, § 2 ; t. ii. p. 78. C, D.
* In Gen. Horn. U, § 2, t. ii. p. 90. C.
60 His seeming Rejection of the Letter merely comparative.
§ iii. 18. where it is said that Moses married a daughter of Jethro the
priest of Midian, which Midian we find was the son of Abra-
ham by Keturah; whereby we learn that Moses's wife was of the
seed of Abraham, and not an alien. . . . And the like you will
find in the generations of Ishmael, which if you diligently look
into, you will discover many points o( history unperceived by the
generality." Had it not been for these remarks coming in at
the end, the whole tone of what he says about Keturah would
lead one to suspect that he thought nothing of the literal
sense : it is fair to conclude, therefore, that in other cases, where
he is merely silent regarding it, be does by no means intend
to disparage it.
(18.) Further, I observe thatmany of the passages, in which he
seems at first positively and expressly to reject the historical
sense, not only may, but in fairness must, be explained with very
great mitigations. Sometimes he is only speaking by comparison,
employing the same kind of figure as did the Prophet, when he
wrote, " I will have mercy and not sacrifice." Thus in discoursing
of the history of Isaac', he says, "As in the Lord there is
nothing bodily, so in all these things take care to understand
nothing bodily." Which words sound indeed like a plain denial,
first of the reality of our Lord's Incarnation, secondly of the
truth of the narrative concerning Isaac : yet it is evident in the
same page^ that Origen was orthodox in the former respect :
for he explains the real offering of the ram to represent the real
suffering of Christ in the flesh, and the figurative offerinor of
Isaac to represent the impassibility of the Divine Word in the
hour of crucifixion ; and we have seen before that he specifies the
history of Isaac as an instance of the allegory not impairing the
truth of the letter. Who does not see then that the expression,
" nothing bodily," must be taken in both clauses comparatively ;
"nothing merely outward and bodily ?" And in all candour the
same qualification should be adopted in all similar cases, wherever
the context, or his opinion otherwise known, does not oblige us
to understand him as going further. For example, a little far-
ther on in Genesis, having to explain a phrase which seems
» In Gen. Horn. viii. 10. t. ii. p. 83. » Ibid. § 9.
His Use of the Word Fable. 61
tautological, be says', " As I have often had occasion to observe, § "'• ^^*
in these things not histories are relatetl, but mysteries are framed
and put together :'' evidently meaning not so much histories as
mysteries : and implying that details, which might appear trifling
or irrelevant, if considered only in themselves, are often amply
accounted for, when you go to the secondary sense : a rule of
sacred criticism, which is surely no way objectionable.
So again, in a fragment of a later part of his commentary on
Genesis ^, remarking on the fear expressed by the sons of Jacob,
lest " Joseph should take them for bondsmen and their asses,"
he says, " It is improbable what is told of the sons of Jacob, that
when they imagined themselves in so evil case they should have
thought at all of their asses : except the expression is used alle-
gorically." By which we may understand him not to deny the
fact of their so speaking, but to account for their being directed
to such expressions.
Also in the account of the destruction of Ai : " When the Jews
read these things," says he *, " they make themselves cruel, and
thirst after human blood," " putantes quia et sancti ita percus-
serunt eos qui habitabant Ai :" i. e. acting upon the idea that the
saints did so and so ; not as if the idea were a false one, but as if
they reasoned wrongly upon it : for a sentence just before shews
that this is one of the places to be expounded comparatively.
He had said, "These* things which follow, belong rather to
the truth of the mystery than of the narrative."
(19.) It may be as well to note here, that the word fxvQoq, or
fahula, for applying which to certain Old Testament histories,
Origen has been very sharply censured, both in ancient and in
modern times, did by no means imply, in his acceptation of it, the
falsehood of the history so denominated. For he uses it of the
history of Lot and his daughters, which he calls *• famosissima fa-
bula*:" and yet it is clear from the whole context, that he believed
the narration, and reasoned on it as real. We ought not, there-
fore, to be too much startled, when we find him using the word
* In Gen. Horn. x. 4. t. ii. p. 88. » On c. 43. 13. t. ii. p. 48. E.
* In Jesu Nave Horn. viii. 7. t. ii. p. 417. B, C. * Ibid. § C.
» In Gen. Horn. v. 3. t. ii. p. 74. F.
62 Origen's strong Statements of the Need of Mysticism,
iii. 20. fables, concerning the history of Paradise, and of" man before the
Fall: though it cannot be denied, that on this particular point he
has trespassed on the honour of the letter, and has taken occasion
from the evident figure contained in certain phrases (such as
" they heard the voice of God walking in the garden,") to affirm
that the whole of what then took place is told only in symbol
and parable : not (observe) denying that it conveys a real history,
but that the said history is throughout written, as it were, in
hieroglyphics. We are not of course called on to justify this
proceeding, but it is desirable, on many accounts, to observe how
far the error went.
(20.) We may just mention two other instances, on the former
of which the accusers of Origen have very generally delighted
to dwell. Both of them, however, a candid construction might
perhaps solve on the principle now under consideration : viz.
by supposing him rather to assert the superior importance,
than the exclusive truth, of the mystical interpretation. They
both occur in the process of harmonizing the Gospels : the
former in the accounts of our Lord's going down to Galilee, in
the early part of His ministry ; the other in those of His
anointing, whether that occurred once, twice, or three times.
In the first instance, which has been already quoted for another
purpose, Origen's ^ remark is, or appears to be (for there is an
evident mutilation of the text :) " The very truth about these
things must needs be stored up in the mystical exposition. If the
discrepancy could not be solved, our faith concerning the Gospels
must needs be impaired ; as though they were either untrue, or
uninspired, or as narratives not felicitously arranged." Then hav-
ing stated the difficulty, and challenged the opponents of the
mystical sense to solve it on any other hypothesis, he remarks in
general on the Gospel narratives. " There are many other cases,
in which minute inquiry into the apparent historical discrepancies
of the four Gospels will lead to one or other of these residts ;
either the inquirer, feeling a kind of giddiness, will give up the
task of verifying them all in the strict sense, and will take up
with one or other of them as it may happen ; or, receiving the
» In Joan. Comm. x. 2. t. iv. 162. B.
and the comparative Insignificance of the Letter. 63
whole four, will admit also that their truth does not lie in the § »'• 20.
outward and bodily characters wherein they are written."
To make his meaning plainer in this first clause, he puts the
case' of four persons, favoured with visions, relating the same
Divine interposition, but varying in such a minute circumstance
as this ; that the one saw the heavenly form sitting, the other
standing ; yet each with truth represents that which his own
inind perceived. And considering that the doings of our Lord on
earth were a series of Divine visions, " why," he says, " sl>ould
we blame the Evangelists, for sometimes giving, as it were, each
a turn of his own to the things done by our Lord, according to
His miraculous and most inconceivable power ; — sometimes inter-
weaving into their narrative, in language taken from sensible
things, what was revealed to them in a sense purely spiritual ?
Why should we blame them, though for edification's sake they
sometimes transpose facts, relating a thing in such a connexion,
as to make it seem to have happened in one place or time,
when in fact it happened in another V And then he makes
the observation so severely censured. " It was their purpose,
when circumstances allowed, to speak truth both spiritually and
literally ; but where both could not be, to prefer the Spirit to
the letter, the spiritual truth being often preserved in what we
may perhaps venture to call the literal and bodily falsehood."
In the other passage to be considered together with this^ he
first states strongly the discrepancies of the literal sense, on the
supposition that the several accounts of the woman anointing
our Lord all relate to the same event ; and the consequent reason-
ableness of supposing that they related to several persons and
events. Then he adds, in a way which is readily understood as
implying that he is now come to the solution which himself
prefers, '* Perhaps some one rather bolder than ordinary will say,
whether historically it were some one woman only who did an
act of this kind, or whether you choose to suppose another, or a
third ; still, I say, first, that the main object of the Evangelists
had respect to certain mysteries ; secondly, that they were not so
very anxious to relate according to historical truth, as to set forth
' Ibid. § 3, 4. » In Matt. Comm. Series, § 77. t. iii. p. 892, .3.
64 Real Amount of Origen's Slalements on the Spirit and Letter.
§ iii. 21. the mysteries which arose out of the history. On which account
also they added certain discourses, suitable to, and in harmony
with, the meaning of those mysteries."
(21.) Now concerning both these passages, let it not be
thought mere partiality, if we construe them as affirming no
more than a comparative exclusion of the literal meaning, a wish
to enforce attention to the spirit, a deprecation of any thing like
unbelief or scepticism on account of literal difficulties ; answering
very nearly to what is commonly said among ourselves, when
objections are alleged against the Scriptures from supposed
geological, astronomical, or other like incongruities, involved in
their letter. They are objections, people say, of a wrong kind ;
it was not the object of the Scriptures to teach those matters.
So here, comparatively speaking, we may understand this Father
to say, " It was not the object of the Evangelists, simply to teach
what happened to our Lord on earth, but to teach it with a
view to the heavenly and Divine truths concerning Him."
Just as of the history at the beginning of Exodus he saysS
" These things are not written for us," ad historiam, " as mere
matters of history : neither are we to suppose that the divine
books are relating the doings of the Egyptians." It is evident
from the context, that he here means " simply relating, for
relating's sake :" that he is far from denying the verity of the
letter, however he may seem to undervalue its importance.
In such cases he may be regarded as endeavouring to account,
not so much for any supposed untruth in a narrative, as for
its being constructed in a way to make it look untrue.
A case very much in point would be the statements, undoubt-
edly conflicting at first sight, of the process which our Lord
adopted for healing the blind men at the gate of Jericho. Ori-
gen would say, and has said', that such appearance of disagree-
ment did not come of itself; that it was framed on purpose, to
draw attention to the moral and mystery of the transaction;
which, in every such case, will be found to be wonderfully brought
1 In Exod. i. § 5. t. iii. p. 131. E.
» Comm. in Matt. torn. 16. § 12. t. iii. 732.
His supposed Confusion of Mystical with Metaphorical. 65
out, by a search wisely instituted to remove the historical difR- § Hi. 22.
culty.
(22.) A further mitigation of the censure due to him on this head
may be derived from a remark of his Editor, De la Rue, who
certainly was at least enough on his guard against an editor's par-
tiality for his author. He states it as a strange, yet certain fact,
that Origen perpetually confuses the literal interpretation of a
passage as distinct from the mystical, with the literal sense of the
words as distinct from the metaphoricaP. " Quod paene incre-
dibile videtur, Origenem latuit discrimen quod literam inter et
verborum literalem sensum intercedit," It would have been a
more guarded, and perhaps a more correct manner of speaking,
had he said only, that Origen sometimes writes as if he were not
aware of this difference.
To make the thing plain by example : among other instances
of the New Testament having, as well as the Law, a letter which
killeth, Origen alleges^ the precepts of our Lord, " If any man
hath a purse, let him take it, and he that hath no sword, let him
sell his garment and buy one :" and " salute no man by the way ;"
and elaiy Evyovj(oi, oi evyov)(^L(Tav tavTovs cia r^y jJatriXeiay rioy
ohpayCjy. These passages, all men will allow to be figurative ways of
expressing a real precept. Now his oversight was, that he applied
the same principle to passages, which seemed to him fraught with
historical difficulties : as in the account of Sarah and Abimelech, of
Isaac and Rebecca, and of the mid wives of Egypt ; where his ex-
pressions are such as these: "If any one chuse to understand this
mere^^ according to the letter, he ought to seek his hearers rather
among Jews than among Christians ^," and " think you that these
are no better than tales, and that the Holy Ghost is merely re-
lating histories*?" and " if we take what is written concerning the
midwives according to the historical narrative, it appears that
such and such a thing cannot stand '." Yet if the several his-
tories be examined, it will be seen that to deny the truth of the
fact is by no means necessary to his argument : the ends of
* Pref. in t. ii. p. xvii. * Comm. in Matt. t. xv, 2. torn. iii. 633.
' In Gen. Horn. vi. i. t. ii. p. 76, D. * In Gen. Horn. x. 2. t. ii. p. 87. F.
» In Exod. Horn. ii. 1. t. ii. p. 133. E.
VOL. VI. — 89. F
66 The Church not too apt to defer to Origen.
iii. 23. which are sufficiently answered, by supposing him to deny, that
this or that turn of expression was designed to be taken literally.
Nay, even according to his unfriendly editor's statement, if he
were not sufficiently aware of the distinction between phrases
mystical and merely metaphorical, he was very likely to mean
the milder assertion, i. e. that the figurative expression was de-
signedly made paradoxical, when he seems to advance the
stronger, i. e. that it wanted the foundation of literal truth.
For these and other like reasons, even though the school of Ori-
gen were a fair specimen of the old ecclesiastical interpretation, it
would not follow that that interpretation could be charged with
denying the letter, except in rare and difficult cases, where, as he
has himself said, we miss altogether the historical meaning :
*' defectum patitur historialis intelligentia *."
(23.) But the matter is thrown out of all doubt, when we add to
what has been said, the fact that the Church has virtually dis-
owned all responsibility for the peculiar opinions of this renowned
Father ; partly by the sentence of a general Council, partly by
the deliberate judgment of some of her chief lights of later
days. It is in some respects unfortunate, that that portion of the
fifth general Council, which contained the proceedings against
those called Origenists, has not come down to our time : but in
the decisions of the Council, it is to be observed, that no mention
is made of the denial of the letter of Scripture, as one of the
supposed errors of Origen. The errors which were maintained
in his name, — most of which may be described as mere con-
jectures, expressed as conjectures by him, and afterwards ad-
vanced to the rank of tenets, philosophical or theological, by
speculators who made the most of so high a sanction; such
as the pre-existence of souls, the manner in which the merits of
the Redeemer may be applied to angelic natures, the supposed
universal renovation, and the like: — these errors are enumerated in
fifteen articles* ; but the alleged abandonment of the literal sense
of the Bible does not appear among them. However, the whole
afTair, coming as it does at the conclusion of three centuries of
> Horn, in Gen. vii. 6, t. ii. 80. B.
2 Vid. Harduin. Concil. t. ii. p. 286—288.
Protests of Basil, Chrysostoin, Jerome. 67
dispute, shows that there was no such blind deference to § iii. 24
his authority, tlien or at any former time, as may render the
Church liable, on his account, to the charge of disparaging the
letter of Holy Scripture.
(24.) The opinions of the most celebrated Fathers are collected by
the Benedictine editor, in his preface to the second volume ^ Such
as the sentiment of St. Basil, in a passage quoted above 2 : "I know
the laws of allegory, though not by my own invention, yet by
acquaintance with the labours of others : according to which,
they who will not receive the ordinary sense of what is written,
in the account of the Creation for example, affirm water not
to mean water, but some other nature ; and plants and fishes
they expound at their own pleasure ; and the formation of creep-
ing things, and of wild beasts, they pervert according to inven-
tions of their own, much like those who profess to interpret
dreams." St. Chrysostom again, as cited by De la Rue, remarks,
that the geographical situation of Paradise, " eastward in Eden,"
may have been purposely inserted by the Sacred Spirit, " to pre-
vent those who are inclined to useless talk from deceiving the ears
of the simple, by stating that Paradise is not in earth but in
heaven, or putting about any other the like mythological
dreams '."
It is to be observed, that neither these Fathers, nor St. Augustin
when lie expresses similar sentiments, make any mention of the
name of Origen : although Augustin, in more than one passage,
condemns him by name, for the same doctrinal errors which
were afterwards censured in the second Council of Constanti-
nople. But they seem to have observed a kind of tenderness
towards him, which makes their express warnings the more strik-
ing, and at the same time leaves room to suppose, that, according
to the view which has been taken above, they might regard him as
rather leading others to deny the letter of the Bible, than as being
himself guilty of such an error on any large scale.
St. Jerome and Epiphanius, as is well known, were less scru-
pulous in their attacks on Origen, probably (at least in part) as
living among persons who were continually pushing his spccu-
1 P. xxiii. 2 Hevaem. Horn. ix. § i. * In Gen. Horn. xiii. t. i. p. 80.
F 2
68 True Amount of their Censures on Origen.
§ iii. 25. lations into heresy. Nothing can be more express than their
protests against him', addressed to John, Patriarch of Jerusalem,
for turning the Scriptures into mere allegory, as far as the history
before the fall was concerned.
Yet, as is often sarcastically alleged by the detractors of the
Ancients, not even Origen himself abounds more in mystical
and figurative interpretations than did these two distinguished
Fathers, St. Jerome and St. Augustin. Are we to conclude
that such men wrote at random, and did not know their
own mind on such a very serious point, as a rule of interpre-
tation extending through the whole Scriptures ? Must we not
rather conclude, that their censure of Origen as an allegorist,
which, generally speaking, we may accept as the censure of the
Church, went thus far, and no further ? viz. to blame him for
supposing that the literal sense would ever entirely vanish, how-
ever impossible it may be for us at times to ascertain it, and
however inferior it may generally or always be, in comparison
with the mystical sense : to blame him, again, for objecting to
it, as he sometimes occasionally does, (contrary however to his
own declared rule) on grounds not flowing from the analogy of
the faith as held and interpreted by the Church, but such as we
should call rationalistic ; such as a thing being to our minds incon-
sistent with the majesty of the Deity. Lastly, and perhaps prin-
cipally, we may understand them to blame him for too great
boldness and luxuriance, in advancing interpretations, not in any
way received by tradition, but devised by his own thoughts. But
not in any sense can they be said to condemn him simply for
maintaining the double sense of the old Scriptures, in the very
way, wherein, as we have seen, the whole body of Christian
writers, from St. Barnabas and St. Clement downwards, had
maintained it.
(25.) And this is true not only of Jerome and Augustin, whose
love for allegory is well known, but also of the other two great
names, Basil and Chrysostom, who are comparatively remarkable
for reserve in such interpretations. Yet Basil, on the Psalms, re-
peatedly refers to our Lord expressions which would be com-
' Epiph. Epist. ad Joan. lerosolym. ap Hieron. t. i. 247i &c. ; Ed. Vallars.
1766 ; Hieron. contra Joan. lerosol. § 7 ; t- "• 413.
Si. ChrysostowkS Sanction for the Mystical Method. 69
monly interpreted of the Psalmist only. And Chrysostom (to say § iii. 23.
nothing of his practice) in the very passage which is cited from
him as so decidedly condemning Origan, points out the neces-
sity of understanding all things QeorpETrwc'. " * The Lord God
planted Paradise.' Consider, beloved ; if we do not understand
these things in a sense becoming the Almighty, we shall needs
be carried over a deep precipice. For what can they say con-
cerning this word, ' planted,' who dare to take all the words
spoken concerning the Deity in a human sense ? Did God need
tools and husbandry, and other such process, to adorn Paradise ?
God forbid. . . . Against this," as against the mere allegory, " let
us stop our ears, and follow the rule of the Scripture. And
when thou hearest, ' God planted a garden in the East,' take
care to conceive of the word ' planted ' in a divine sense concerning
God, that He gave order for such a thing to be ; but as to the
next word, believe thou that Paradise really was formed, and in
that place where the Scripture hath pointed it out. For not to
believe the things set down in the divine Scripture, but rather
to introduce other things of one's own mind, must, I conceive,
bring extreme danger to those who venture on such a pro-
ceeding." On the other hand, in his exposition of the 47th
Psalm », he says, speaking of the verse, " O clap your hands, all
ye people ;" " With reason might one take this Psalm according
to the mystical sense, rising above the literal meaning. For
though it take its beginning and prelude from things sensible,
yet it guides the hearer to the things which are merely spiri-
tual. For, as I have said before, so now I say again, some
things we must take as they are said, some contrary to the
letter ; e. g. when it is said, the wolf shall lie down with the
lamb. Some in both senses ; as the sacrifice of Abraham, and
the first paschal lamb." Compare this passage with the former,
and it will be plain that while St. Chrysostom was earnest in con-
demning the too free speculations of a later age, there was nothing
in his principles contrary to the mode of exposition, which, as we
have seen, was adopted by the Fathers before Origen.
On the whole, we may assume that the Mysticism of the ancient
' Horn. 13, in Gen. t. i. p. 80, lin. 29, Ed. Savile. =* t. i. 652, 16.
70 Recapitulation. Judgment of Cyril of Alexandria.
iv. 1. Church (whatever might be said of some individuals) was very
far from interfering with the truth of the history. The next point
will be to show, that neither did it interfere with moial truth,
f. e. it did not, by prophetical exposition of certain questionable
parts of the Patriarchs' conduct, annul or confound the judg-
ment of the well informed moral sense, as to the rectitude of
such conduct. This however must be made matter of sepa-
rate investigation.
§ iv. — Mysticism as applied to the Moral Difficulties of
Scripture.
It has been endeavoured in the former sections, first, to shew
distinctly what is meant, when the Fatliers are charged with
Mysticism, and to point out by example the need of extreme
caution and reverence, whenever we approach that subject.
Secondly, granting the fact that they are, generally speaking,
Mystics, at least in the interpretation of Scripture, (for to that in
its present stage the inquiry is limited) a reason was however
adduced for believing that they were not so at random, nor in
mere blind obedience to the literary fashion of the day. The
reason is this, that we find them, with ?e\\ and rare exceptions,
careful to limit their mystical expositions, so as not to destroy
the historical and literal meaning. The exceptions, chiefly drawn
from the Alexandrian school, were shortly considered, and
appeared in themselves less formidable than tliey are sometimes
represented : it appeared moreover, that whatever their amount,
they so far tend to strengthen our argument, as they occasioned an
anxious disavowal of the mere allegory, on the part of St. Basil,
St. Augustin, and others, who had the best claim to be regarded
as representing the whole Church. Their verdict is correctly
reported in the following passages from Cyril of Alexandria '.
" In the inspired writings those who shrink from the literal
and historical meaning as unsound, are chargeable in effect with
something very like shrinking from the only process, which
can enable them to understand the things therein set down. For
» In Esai. lib. i. 4; 1. i. p. 113.
Old and New Views of Moral Difficulties in Scripture, 71
the investigation of them in the mystical way is indeed noble § iv. 2.
and profitable ; it tends to enlighten throughly the eye of the
mind, and greatly to advance us in good understanding : never-
theless, as often as any historical fact is introduced to us by
the Scriptures, then surely, if ever, it becomes us to trace out
the profitable use of the history, that the divine Scripture may
do its work, saving and helping us in all ways." This was in
agreement with the rule, which he had laid down for himself in
the beginning of his commentary on the Pentateuch '. " Our
exposition will be useful, if we first consider the facts, as they
really took place, and make part of history ; and having as we
may completed that view, if we then new-mould our statement,
passing from the type and shadow to the clear account of the
inward signification ; our discourse having all the way a bearing
on the Mystery of Christ, and tending to Him as its limit ; since
it is an unquestioned truth, that Christ is the end of the Law
and the Prophets."
Such had been the line of interpretation, which the Fathers of
the first age, by a kind of sacred instinct, adopted from the
beginning: and in no other did those of the fourth and fifth ages
acquiesce, after full examination, and abundant opportunity of
judging how far it was likely to be abused.
(2.) We have now to consider this mystical method in its appli-
cation to one class of texts in particular ; those portions, namely,
of the Old Testament history, which record actions of question-
able morality on the part of God's favoured servants. So it is,
that in modern times, even among those who appear truly to
reverence the Bible, there is commonly adopted, in regard of
these startling passages, a tone of explanation and remark, very
different from that which prevailed in the early ages of the
Church. It seems desirable, for many reasons, to ascertain the
amount of that difference, and how it may be best accounted
for. We may find perhaps that the patristical mode of inter-
pretation, rightly understood, interferes as little with moral as it
before was found to interfere with historical truth ; and the
whole discussion may tend to convince us, that on this, as on
» T. i. p. 2. C. ed. Aubert. Paris. 1638.
72 The Moral Difficulty known and avowed by the Fathers :
§iv. 3, 4. most theological subjects, we have much more to learn from
the Fathers, than to apologize for in them.
(3.) That the Fathers, deeply as they were versed in every part
of the inspired writings, were fully aware of this kind of Scrip-
ture difficulty, one might be certain beforehand, on considering
that it is a difficulty which occurs to every person, even to
children, perusing the Old Testament with an ordinary degree of
attention. Nor do we find commonly in their writings any desire
to evade the subject, or to draw off attention from it. There
were controversies indeed in the four first ages, which would
have forced it continually on their thoughts as polemical writers ;
such as that with the Marcionites first, and afterwards with the
Manichaeans, who used the startling parts of the sacred history,
as proofs that the Old Testament came from an evil, or at least
from an imperfect. Being: or again, that which they had con-
stantly to maintain with the Pagan Philosophers, who, as
appears from Celsus and Julian, were not slow to employ this
topic against Christians and Jews alike : but the remarkable
thing is, that the same narrations are produced, and discussed
without reserve, in their practical and popular writings also,
their pastoral letters to individuals, and their homilies ad
populum. There seems no desire on their part to withdraw these
things from common observation, such as we now find not unfre-
quently, even among those who on other grounds would encourage
the freest discussion and circulation of the Scriptures. Their
reserve, their secret discipline, so perplejyng to many in our
days, did not extend to these things.
(4.) Neither do we find that even those, who took the greatest
liberties in allegorizing, who came nearest in some instances to
the denial of the letter, — not even that such as Origen, — thought
themselves warranted in getting rid of the moral difficulty, arising
from the places in question, by resorting to the mere allegory.
They did so, or appeared much inclined to do so, where the
literal statement seemed physically or historically impossible :
occasionally also where it seemed very trifling or frivolous ; but
it is not so easy to meet with a passage, where the same solution
is applied to any narrative, merely on the ground of its apparent
not evaded by denying the historical Sense. 73
immorality ; which yet, with our modern notions, would seem § iv. 4.
to be the most tempting ground of all.
This remark is made with all the hesitation, which becomes
one who ventures on a sweeping statement after a very limited
induction. But should it be found on the whole correct, it is
surely a very considerable circumstance, and may help to con-
vince us that these early theologians knew well what they were
about, and did not use their solutions at random, just as difficul-
ties happened to press, or ingenious answers came to hand.
CelsuS; as it appears from Origen *, charged the apologists of the
Bible with this very artifice ; " that the more plausible among
them, being ashamed of certain portions of their sacred books,
take refuge in the allegorical meaning :" and among other
instances from the Book of Genesis he alleged the disputes of
Jacob and Esau, the conduct of Rebecca, the histories of Lot
and of Jacob's family. Origen's answer in effect comes to this ^ :
he disavows all intention of denying the fact in such histories as
those above mentioned. " In many instances," says he, " the word
[of God], hath made use of 7'eal transactions, and recorded them
so as to exhibit things greater, covertly indicated, such as are"
(among others) " the marriages and various connections of the
righteous men [^0/ old^." Farther on he contrasts the patriarchal
narrative with the foul and revolting fictions of the Greek
mythology ; which, as he observes, were indeed full of shame-
fulness, taken in their first acceptation, relating as they did to
their very gods and the sons of their gods ; and having enforced
this by the virtual confession of those Greek philosophers, such
as Chrysippus, who had laboured to make out the symbolical
purport of their fables, he proceeds as follows : '• Because of these
things — because of such fables as these and others innumerable,
we for our part are unwilling to go so far as even in name to call
the Supreme God {e. g.) Jupker ; or the Sun, Apollo; or the
Moon, Diana. But exercising pure religion towards the Creator,
and concerning His works, which are very good, using none but
good and auspicious words, not even by a name do we pollute
tlie things of God : accepting what Plato says in the Philsebus :
' Coiitr. Celsum, iv. 48, 43, 45. ' Ibid. § 44 ; t. p. 637, B.
74 The Fathers mamtained an immutable Moral Instinct.
§ »v. 5. « so great,' says he, *is the dread which I feel concerning the names
of the gods.' We also, of a truth, are full of dread concerning
the Nanie of our God and His good creatures, to that degree,
that never could we admit, even under pretence of symbolical
language, any tale or fable which tends to the corruption of the
young 1." The argument of this passage may seem to require
explanation. It may be briefly stated thus. " The fact is well
known that believers in the Bible decline even the metaphorical
use of the names of the heathen gods ; so great is their abhor-
rence of the impious immoral stories with which those names are
associated ; judge you then whether they are likely, under any
pretence of allegory, to admit, as vehicles of their own doctrines,
stories really base and immoral."
From all this it is sufficiently manifest, that the line of defence
taken by Origen, and a fortiori by those who were less prone to
allegory, would be, to vindicate on their own grounds the moral
tendencies of the several statements objected to, assuming their
historical truth. How far such his vindications were or were
not independent of the allegorical meaning, which he also
asserted, and for which he argues at large in this very passage,
is another question, to be considered hereafter in its place.
(5.) Now there is a strong presumption, at first setting out,
against the supposition that the Fathers dealt lightly with this
class of Scripture difficulties, that they trifled with them, or
treated them in a way to disturb men's notions of morality. For
it is a certain fact, that the early Christian moralists, whether
nominally attached to any particular school or no, were none of
them in any sense Epicureans nor utilitarians. They all held,
expressly or by instinct, a moral sense in the heart of man,
and its correlative, a real difference of right and wrong in
human conduct, independent of all results.
It was partly on this ground that they preferred to all others
the schools of Pythagoras and Plato, a preference which is fully
stated and accounted for at large by St. Augustin, in his eighth
Book on the City of God. A few passages may be given, as
tending to show what line Christian philosophers (for in their
name generally St. Augustin is speaking, and not of his own
> Contr. Cclsum, p. 48, t. i. p. 540.
St. Augustin's Praise of Plato on that Account. 75
private opinions) would be likely to pursue on delicate points § iv. 5.
of casuistry.
With regard then to the moral sense : " Far be it from us,"
he exclaims ', " to think of comparing the Platonists with
those, who make the bodily senses the standard of truth, and
pronounce them, faithless and deceitful as they are, the rule
and measure of all propositions ; as do the Epicureans and all of
the like sort : as the very Stoics also themselves, who in their
fond affection for Dialectic, as they term it, i. e. for the art of
ingenious argumentation, have imagined that even it might be
bestderived, ultimately, from the bodily senses; affirming that from
no other source does the mind conceive the notions which they
call primary (ideas, t. e. of certain things which their theory goes
on to define particularly), and from which is deduced and framed
the wRole process of learning and of teaching . . . But the Platonists
(deservedly therefore preferred by us) distinguish what the mind
beholds from what strikes on the bodily senses ; neither denying to
the senses what they are capable of, nor assigning to them more
than they will bear. But the light of the mind, whereby all things
are to be learned, they affirmed to be no other than the God by
whom all things were made."
A little further on, he writes as follows : (The passage is
here quoted, not so much for the astonishing depths which
it discloses of what may be called Christian Philosophy, as
because the author states himself to be speaking not his own
private sentiments, but the feeling, avowed or instinctive, of
the whole Church*.) "So far as the Platonists agree with
us, concerning one God, the Author of this universe, who is
not only above all bodies. Himself incorporeal, but also above
all souls, Himself incorruptible, our Source, our Light, our
Good — so far we prefer them to all others. What if any Chris-
tian, ignorant of their literature, use not their terms in dispu-
tation, (how should he, since he never learned them ?) what if
he neither call that branch Physics, which treats of inquiry into
things natural ; nor that Logic, which analyses the process where-
by truth may be discerned ; nor that Ethics which treats of con-
duct, — of the chief good to be sought, and the chief evil to be
> De Civ. Dei, viii. 7. * Ibid. cap. 10.
76 Origen's Contrast of Platonism with other Sects.
§ iv. 6, avoided ? he knows nevertheless that all three are from the one
true and most bountiful God ; both our nature, whereby we are
formed according to His image ; and the doctrine, whereby we
may know both Him and ourselves ; and the grace, whereby,
cleaving to Him, we may be perfectly blessed. Behold here the
cause of the preference we give to the Platonists : that while
other philosophers have worn out their toil and their talents in
searching out the causes of things, the rules of learning and of
life ; these alone, acknowledging God, have found the cause of
the world as it is, the light of all truth that may be attained, the
fountain of all bliss that may be tasted. Be these philosophers
then Platonists, or whoever else of whatever nation, who think
thus of God, they think with us."
(C.) In Origen we have repeated disavowals of the principles of
the other sects, and repeated acknowledgments of the remark-
able coincidence between the principles of Plato's morality, and
those which the Gospel divinely sanctions. Of the former class,
the following is a specimen^ : " The Christians are likened by
Celsus to one, who professing to cure bodily sickness, should
withdraw men from skilful physicians, for fear of having their
own ignorance detected. But who, I ask, are these physicians,
from whom we thus withdraw the simple ? . . . Suppose it, for
example, to be the philosophy of Epicurus, and of those who
belong to his school, . . . what do we that is not most reasonable,
liberating men from that evil disease, the result of the treatment
of these favourite physicians of Celsus : I mean the denial of
Providence, and recommendation of pleasure as the chief good ?
Or what again, if we draw off our disciples from those other
physician-philosophers who are called Peripatetics ; denying as
they do all providence over mankind, all relation between God
and man ? what is this but an exercise of piety on our part, and
a real mental cure to those whom we influence ? . . . Grant,
again, that there are others, whom we separate from the physi-
cians of the Stoical class, the maintainers of a corruptible God of
a bodily and perishable substance : ... in this case too, can any
one deny that we shall be delivering those who will believe us
» In Cels. iii. 75.
How Justification might be had by it, according to Clement. 77
from many evils, and introducing them to the doctrine of true § iv. 7.
piety, the doctrine of resignation to the Creator of the world ?"
To this rejection of all other theories, he elsewhere adds ex-
press approbation of Plato's, of which perhaps no instance can be
adduced more remarkable than this : " Let those who are able to
understand receive the instruction of ancient and wise men ; of
Plato especially, the son of Ariston; let us hear what he says in a
certain letter concerning the chief good : let us attend to him,
affirming, ' the first and chiefest good can in nowise be uttered in
words, but is first generated by long habit, and then on a sudden,
as though by fire, starting into a blaze, is kindled like a light in
the soul.' Which words we also hearing, assent unto them as
excellently spoken : for it was God Himself who revealed to
them those things, and whatsoever else has been rightly taught
by them."
(7.) To the same purpose may be alleged those passages in
Clement of Alexandria, peculiarly startling to those whose views
are framed upon the phraseology of modern theologians, wherein
he speaks of the old Pagans being in a certain sense justified by
philosophy ' ; of its being necessary to them for righteousness
before the coming of our Lord ; of its constituting one out of
many ways or gates of righteousness ^ whereby men, according
to God's manifold goodness, might be and were variously led
towards the royal way and gate. These and similar high ex-
pressions relate especially to the Platonic morals : although it is
true that in his general commendations of philosophy he wished
to be understood as adopting an eclectic process : " I mean not,"
says he, '• the Stoical or the Platonic alone, nor yet that of Epi-
curus, nor of Aristotle ; but whatsoever sayings may be found
in each of those sects, rightly inculcating righteousness with re-
ligious consideration, those taken all together by way of selection
I term philosophy ^." This eclecticism may very well stand with
an exclusive preference of Plato's doctrine, as to the unchange-
able nature of moral good, arising out of the unchangeable attri-
butes of God ; a doctrine with which Clement every where in-
• Strom, i. 99 ; vi, 44. » Ibid. i. 38 ; vi. 45.
3 Ibid. i. 73.
78 How the Moral Sense dcala with Scripture Difficulties.
§ iv. 8. (licates his concurrence : e. g. where he calls Justice natural, and
especially in that remarkable place which conveys his exposition
of the critical word Justification* ; " ' You have been justified,' *'
says the Apostle, " ' in the name of the Lord ;' you have been made
by Him, so to speak, righteous, as He is righteous ; and in the
greatest possible measure, according to your capacity, you have
been blended and united with the Holy Spirit of God." This
sentence clearly evinces, that when he spoke of philosophy
justifying the heathen, he was far from any thought of its merit-
ing for them, in the strict sense of the word, forgiveness of sins :
he was speaking of inherent goodness, and that, he affirmed,
philosophy gave them, so far as they may have really practised
it, by the secret aid of God's good Spirit, and so far as they may
have become, accordingly, conformed to God's image ; an idea
which evidently applies to the Platonist alone, among heathen
schools of morality.
Such is, what has sometimes been called in scorn, the Plato-
nism of the early Church ; the allegation implied in that name
being about as correct, as if one should say, the sun's light was
borrowed from the reflection of the moon in the water. The
passages have been adduced, not to prove the fact, for that is
allowed on all hands ; but as putting strongly before the mind the
sort of view, which the ecclesiastical writers were likely to take
of those narratives of Holy Writ, which we may call, in one
sense, painfully perplexing. We see that they could not consis-
tently explain them by any view, however enlarged, of expedi-
ency, a greater good resulting in the end ; they must either leave
the several difficulties as they found them, or make them out in
some way positively consistent with God's eternal law.
(8.) We are far, however, from being left to antecedent proba-
bilities on this head. St. Augustin, in his treatise against Faustus
the Manichaean, has left us an elaborate statement of the principle
on which, as he conceived, objections of the kind now in question
are to be met, accompanied with many exemplifications. The Ma-
nichaeans, as is well-known, affirmed the Old Testament to be the
work of the Evil Principle ; and one of their main arguments was
' Stioiii. vii. 07.
AugustirCs View of questionable Acts in Scripture. 79
grounded on the distressing parts of the Old Testament history. § iv. 8.
Indeed the similarity is wonderful between the blasphemies of
Faustus, as they are recited by St. Augustin, and those of many
modern unbelievers : whether the replies of St. Augustin agree as
well with those most in favour among modern vindicators of Scrip-
ture, is another question ; of which more will be said presently.
He addresses himself to the inquiry with all the religious care,
which might be expected from his deep reverence and affection for
the Bible: stating himself, in the outset, to have in view the case,
not so much of the Manichaeans, — whose theology, as well as their
moral conduct, proved that they could not adduce such objections
in earnest, — as of others, who, without any vain teaching of their's,
found in themselves disturbing thoughts, on comparing the life of
the Prophets in the Old Testament with the life of the Apostles
in the New. " That we may not," says he \ " proceed rashly in
our moral judgment of these matters, we shall do well first to
consider, what is sin : then to look into the deeds of the Saints
registered in the divine books, that if in any instances we find even
them to have sinned, we may ascertain, as diligently as we can, for
what good end their sins also were set down and committed to
memory. Next, in whatsoever cases we find what appears sin to
the foolish or ill-disposed, not being such, yet not having in
it any obvious example of goodness : we shall have to consider
for what cause these things found a place in those Scriptures,
which our faith tells us were written for our [soul's] health, to
control us in this life, and obtain for us that which is to come.
Lastly, whatsoever among the deeds of the Saints shine forth as
lessons of righteousness, no man, even among the simple and
ignorant, doubts the propriety of recording these. Of the two
former classes, then, there may be a question ; first, those which
may seem to be recorded idly, not having any goodness found in
them, yet not being sins ; secondly, those, the relation of which
may appear even pernicious, their sinfulness being undeniable,
and they not unlikely to be drawn into precedent. In which
latter kind again we may observe a further distinction. For
some of these actions are uncensured in the Scripture itself, and
' Contr. Faust, lib. xxii. 20.
80 Questionable Conduct, when approved by the Fathers,
§ iv. 9, 10. «nay, therefore, by some be imagined no sin at all ; others are
indeed reproved in the Bible, yet may be committed with an
hope of easy pardon, being such as are found even in those holy
men."
(9.) A fairer or fuller statement of the case could hardly be given
in the same number of words. Observe now how absolutely he
lays down the doctrine of immutable morality, as the standard
whereby to try the conduct of the Saints, no less than the ordinary
conduct of ordinary men. *'Sin\" he proceeds, "is something
done, said, or desired contrary to the eternal law. By the eternal
law I mean the Divine reason or Will of God, commanding the
preservation, forbidding the disturbance, of the natural order of
things." Presently after he applies this standard to the several
cases enumerated by Faustus, such as the polygamy of Abraham
and Jacob ; Abraham's conduct when with Sarah in Egypt ; the
histories of Lot, Judah, David, and others ; the sanguinary wars
and executions of Moses. And how uncompromising his casuistry
was, we may see in the treatise De Mendacio : where he denies
the lawfulness of any kind of lie, even for the saving of a man's
life or soul, and maintains that all the cases alledged from the
Old Testament in excuse or commendation of those who take
such liberties, either had not the nature of lies, or are proposed as
warnings, not as examples to mankind.
Such being in general the strictness of the Fathers' morality,
it is nevertheless undeniable, that they treat the passages in ques-
tion — St. Augustin himself, the asserter of a rule so inflexible,
treats them — in a tone at which modern ears are apt to be
startled : positively and unreservedly praising some things, which
the men of this age either boldly censure, or condescendingly try
to excuse, or at best shrink from discussing, as they would from
the touch of a hot iron : and using much doubt and reserve in
their censure of others, which to us are apt to seem clear and
unquestionable cases of gross immorality.
(10.) Now with regard to the former class — the cases where the
approbation of the Fathers is more positive than we should ven-
ture on, — it perhaps will be found that they generally spoke from
' Contr. Faust, xxii. 27.
supposed to he prompted from above. 81
a strong impression (which might or might not be well-grounded § i^- 10.
in the particular case) that the person was acting by express com-
mand, or secret but sure inspiration, of Almighty God. The most
signal instance of the kind is Abraham's sacrifice of his son : the
command for which is too plainly set down in the Old Testament,
and the praise of it in the New too marked and emphatical, to
admit of its being called in question by any believer ; but it is
not always felt how far the principle of it extends : — that to it, as to
the head of a class, may be referred very many of the passages
■which startle men, by representing God's favoured servants as
acting with apparent cruelty and harshness. The Fathers deeply
felt this : they felt that where God had plainly spoken, the justi-
fications and arguments of men were out of place : nor did they
doubt His having means to make His own voice so clear to His
servants, that they need not fear its coming from any Spirit but
His. And therefore St. Augustin, defending God's people against
the charge of wronging the Egyptians, felt that he had said
enough for them, if he brought them under the same category
with Abraham ; i. e. if he showed that they as well as Abraham
had an express command from God. And this the very
Manichaeans must allow ; for even Faustus, in general so un-
sparing, had not dared to insert the sacrifice of Isaac in his charges
against the Patriarchs ; probably because it would have been too
offensive, so clear was the verdict of exceeding praise bestowed
on that act in the New Testament. St. Augustin's reasoning is
thus worded':-—
" Some acts there are which the Eternal Lord . . . has set
before men as in a kind of middle station, so that our taking
them on ourselves would be justly blamed for presumption, but
in fulfilling them, commanded, we earn the praise of obedience.
So much difference does it make in the natural place and station
of things, not only who is acting, and what is done, but also
under whose authority. Abraham, had he sacrificed his son of
his own accord, what would he have shown himself, but fearfully
profane and detestable? What, when he did so at God's bidding,
but full of all faith and devotion?" (Elsewhere ', in comparing
' Contr. Faust, xxii. 73. ' Quoest. in Jud. xlix. 4. t. iii. p. i. 45G. D.
VOL. VI. — 89. o
82 The Fathers^ Flew of D'lspensalions that seem to us cruel.
iv. 10. Abraham's act with Jephtha's, he had made this the leading dif-
ference : that the one, being bidden, offered his son ; the other
did what was forbidden by the law of Moses, and not enjoined
on him by any special command.) , . . . " Wherefore, if in tlie
slaughter of a son the voluntary act would be accursed, but tlie
dutiful obeying God's voice not only unblameable but glorious ;
why, O Faustus, blamest thou Moses, for having spoiled the
Egyptians ? If thine anger is moved by the apparent dishonesty,
supposing the act human, let thy fear be also moved by the
Divine authority of Him who enjoined it. Or, art thou prepared
to blame God Himself for willing such things to be done ? Then
* get thee behind me, Satan, for thou savourest not the things
which be of God, but those which be of men.' "
He proceeds to apply the same principle to the wars of Moses
and Joshua, and the destruction of the Canaanites ' — " The wars
wrought by Moses we need not admire or shudder at, for in them
he followed the Divine command : it was not cruelty, but obedience
. . . .* Why then rush we into daring reproaches, I would I could
say, of men only, and not of God ? What, if the ministers and
dispensers of the Old Testament, who were also harbingers of the
New, did their office by slaying sinners ; while those ministers of
the New, being also expositors of the Old, did theirs by dying
under the hands of sinners ? Yet both did their office to God — to
Him who teaches that at divers but convenient seasons, from Him
temporal goods must be sought, and for Him they are to be de-
spised : by Him temporal chastisements are enjoined, and for
Him they ought to be endured." So Theodoret, speaking of the
slaughter of Agag by SamueP: " He slew him as Phinehas did
Zimri : for whatever God commands is religious." And Cyril,
with no less simplicity and piety*: "We ought unhesitatingly,
attributing rectitude to the verdict pronounced in Heaven, to
keep ourselves from all thoughts of cavil, and hasten to accom-
plish what is bidden, though it be something not very agreeable
to our own understandings. E. g. Saul spared Agag :
whereby he offends God, and that greatly ; for he dealt gently
» Contr. Faust, xxii. 74. ' Ibid. § 79-
* In 1 Reg. qu. 34. t, i. 379. ed. Schulze. * Coram, in Hos. t. iii. 13. C.
Modern Account of them by Difference of Civilization. 83
with him who was appointed to die ; his conduct being all one as § iv. 11.
if he had proclaimed in so many words, that God had passed an
unjust sentence on Agag."
(11.) To many persons, reading their Bibles with unprejudiced
and simple minds, it may seem as if on this point we were multi-
plying unnecessary quotations. *' Obey my voice," is to them, and
they feel that it must ever have been to God's Saints, all in all, with-
out further inquiry. But it seemed desirable to give full expression
to the patristical view of cases like that of Abraham's sacrifice,
for the sake of comparing it with a notion which seems to find
favour with many in our days. Antiquity was content, when
once it discerned a plain injunction from above : but the rest-
less ingenuity of this age will not permit us heartily to ac-
quiesce in the praises even of such as Abraham, except under
cover of a certain theory of accommodation. Human sacri-
fices, we are told, and particularly the sacrifice of children by
their parents, were notoriously practised by the nations of Canaan :
God had not yet declared His abhorrence of such sacrifices : they
were practised in that time and country as the most solemn rite
of religion : therefore, whatever Abraham's feelings might be, his
conscience was not startled at the command to offer his son —
it was not yet an enlightened conscience — it partook of the
barbarity of his time and country : allow for that, and Christians
may contemplate the sacrifice of Isaac with edification, but with-
out such allowance it will be a stumbling-block.
In like manner, the destruction of the Canaanites, the slaugh-
ter of the Midianitish women by Moses, of the Amalekites and
Agag by Saul and Samuel, were not blameable in those times,
because in those times " the laws of war, if so they may be called,
were so thoroughly barbarous, that no amount of slaughter
committed against enemies was likely to shock the feelings of
any one." Samuel, in short, was a half-civilized person, and
therefore might be justified in putting Agag to death, in obedi-
ence to the plain command of God ; but " to men in an advanced
state of moral knowledge and feeling, the command to perpe-
trate such general slaughter .... would be so revolting, that
they could not and ought not to think that God could possibly
be the author of it."
g2
84 Change of Times, no /Account of Abraham's Sacrifice :
§ iv. 12, 13. (12.) Now, not to dwell here on the fact, that the iniquity of
the Amorites, in Abraham's time, was declared to be not yet
full, and that the book of Deuteronomy seems to speak of their
burning their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods,
as the crowning act of that iniquity ; considerations which would
seem to throw no small doubt on the statement that human sa-
crifices were usual in Canaan in Abraham's time ; neither would
that doubt at once be removed by the mention of such sacrifices
as practised by the Moabites many generations after : — not to in-
sist on the remonstrance of Elisha, " Wouldest thou destroy,
those whom thou hast made captive by thy sword and by thy
bow?" as an indication that the then received " laws of war" were
not in all cases altogether so barbarous as the above argument re-
quires: — omitting for the present objections of the historical sort,
and only just noticing the obvious remark, that the higher and
gentler a person's general tone of moral feeling, the less likely,
one should think, would he be to be hurt and corrupted by a com-
mand to execute vengeance in some isolated case, however unspar-
i'^gJy ; — o" granting which, the whole speculation vanishes : — pass-
ing over these and other considerations, the one thing now to be
observed is, the striking contrast between the tone and manner of
St. Augustin, and of the modern apology for the Bible : how com-
pletely the one mounts above, the other defers to, the natural
cravings of a refined intellect after full satisfaction and explana-
tion ; how fearlessly the one acquiesces in God's will, while the
other would check us in such acquiescence, by philosophical cal-
culations, of the result of such and such conduct on the tempers
and character of the agent ; how the one in short walks entirely
by faith, the other requires more or less of intellectual sight.
On that one distinction we might perhaps reasonably join issue,
which of the two schools may be more safely followed, as a guide
through the difficulties of Scripture.
(13.) It will be said, perhaps, that the Fathers themselves have
given their sanction to this principle of moral accommodation,
pleading as they do for some of the Old Testament characters,
the comparative imperfection of the light and strength which
they enjoyed. But if we mark it well, we shall find this material
difference between their accommodation, (if it may be so called,)
although it might explain Injunctions partly Ritual, 85
and tliat which has been considered above, — that they never apply § '^'- ^3.
it to actions positively commanded or approved of God. It
belongs either to characters, such as Rahab and the midwives of
Egypt, who were on the whole praised and accepted, in spite of
some immorality in the means they employed ; which immorality
however was less in them than it would have been in us, on
account of the greater imperfection of their knowledge : — or
else it appertains to enactments or permissions, having in them
more or less of a ritual and positive — one might almost say, of a
sacramental — nature ; " the custom of that time, when the promise
was veiled, as distinguishable from the custom of this time, when
the promise is revealed." So writes St. Augustin S with a view
especially to the domestic history of the Patriarchs. And perhaps
we might refer to this head the whole subject of the law of mar-
riage, both before and after the time of Moses, as compared
with that which had existed in Paradise, and which our Saviour
renewed in the Christian Church.
Of this latter class St. Irenacus is speaking, where, having quoted
St. Paul's permissive sentences in 1 Cor. vii. he infers', " If even
in the New Testament we find the Apostles allowing some precepts
on a principle of condescension, because of the incontinence of
certain persons, lest such, becoming obdurate and altogether des-
pairing of their salvation, fall entirely away from God ; it is no
wonder, should the same God in the Old Testament also have
willed something of the kind, alluring His people for their good
by the aforesaid observances, whereby they might at least learn
to keep the Ten Commandments, and feel them such a check as
should prevent their turning to idolatry, and becoming apostates
from God ; nay, and whereby they might learn to love Him with
their whole heart.'' Thus Irenaeus, to explain how the Mosaical
permission of divorce might harmonize with the purer Evange-
lical Law, coming in its season. It was matter of permission,
not of commandment ; as our Lord Himself hinted to the Phari-
sees, when they pressed Him with it. For they having asked,
**Why did Moses command divorce ?" He in His reply corrected
» Contr. Faust, xxii. 23. ' Lib. iv. 20.
86 What Kind of Moral Accommodation they allowed.
§ iv. 14. the expression ; " Moses, because of the hardness of your
hearts, suffered" (not enjoined) "you to put away your wives : but
from the beginning it was not so."
(14.) For an illustration of the other kind of moral accommoda-
tion, we may refer to St. Augustin, de Mendacio^. " Whereas it is
written, that God dealt bountifully with the Hebrew midwives,
and with Rahab, the harlot of Jericho ; that was not because of the
falsehoods they uttered, but because of the kindness they showed
to the people of God. It was not then their deceit which re-
ceived a reward, but their good and dutiful affection. . . . For as
it would not appear strange nor unreasonable, should God in
consideration of their later good works be willing to forgive cer-
tain evil works formerly committed by them ; so neither is it any
thing wonderful, if God at one time and in one transaction be-
holding both, — a deed of mercy and one of deceit, — did not only
reward the one as good, but also with a view to that goodness
did forgive the other which was evil. . . We may understand then
that to those women, to the one in Egypt, to the other in Jericho,
was rendered according to their humanity and mercy a reward,
of this world indeed, but such as might also in prophetic shadow
represent, unknown to themselves, something eternal. But
whether at any time it be right to tell a lie, even for the sake of
saving a man ; this being a question, the solution of which even
the most learned find a weary task, was of course far beyond
the compass of ordinary women, dwelling where they did, and
with the tone of morals they were used to. Accordingly, this
ignorance of theirs, as also their equal blindness in many other
things, things which are reserved to be known by the children
not of this world but of the next ; this ignorance, I say, the
long suffering of God endured. ... As to Rahab, when she did
that deed, — good and laudable, considering her state of life, — she
was not yet such as that one should require of her, * Let your con-
versation be, Yea, yea, Nay, nay.' But we, in our inquiries
whether any kind of lie can ever suit a good man, have an eye
to the case not of an Egyptian, not of one appertaining to
1 § 32. t. vii. p. 341. E.
Why they always leaned to the favourable Side. 87
Jericlio or Babylon, nor of one who is still a denizen of the § iv. 15.
earthly Jerusalem, which is in bondage with her children ; but of
a citizen of that city which is above, our mother eternal in the
heavens."
(15.) Hitherto those cases only have been considered, in which
the approbation of Holy Writ is express ; let us now proceed to
those which may seem to be left doubtful, being simply recorded,
with no clear precept or commendation. And here it will be
obvious to the most cursory examiner, that amidst great indivi-
dual diversity, the Fathers, as a body, in discussing such cases,
almost always lean to the favourable side. They do so in a degree,
which to persons with mere modern associations may often ap-
pear extravagant, sometimes even shocking. In this they might
be suspected of merely indulging, perhaps unknown to themselves,
the very natural wish, of being always on the side, as it were, of
those whom they believed and knew for certain to be on God's side.
One might be tempted to allow a good deal for such partiality,
were it not that the Fathers have themselves explained, fully and
frankly, the principles on which they so acted. Those principles
are mainly two : the one, a hearty sense of the Communion
of Saints, as a still subsisting bond of union between them
and the Patriarchal and Mosaical ages ; the other (which shall
be first exemplified) a deep and reverential sense of God's
peculiar Presence and Interference through the whole of this
history ; a trembling consciousness that they were near the in-
visible line which separates His agency from that of His ra-
tional creatures ; which thought, wherever it becomes habitual,
will necessarily make a religious man slow to censure, lest he
be found blaming his Maker's work unawares. This is the ac-
count of those passages of the Fathers, in which, considering the
mystical meaning as undoubted, they seem to allege it as stopping
the mouths of gainsayers. To do any thing like justice to their
view, we must copy the acute reasoning of St. Augustin him-
self.
'* I lay down this first of all, that not only the tongues of those
' Contr. Faust, xxii. 24.
88 Tijpical Meaning of the Patriarchs' Conduct;
§ iv. 15. men, but their very lives also, were prophetical ; that the whole
kingdom of the Hebrews was as it were a great prophet, great
because He is great who was the subject of the prophecy.
Wherefore in regard of those among them, whose hearts were
trained in the wisdom of God, we must look for prophecies of the
Christ who should come, and of His Church, not only in what
they said, but also in what they did ; in regard of other individuals,
and of the whole nation collectively, the field of prophecy lies rather
in what God did with them and for them. For all ' these things,'
as the Apostle says, ' were our ensamples,' our types or figures.
" And whereas the Manichaeans in certain actions, the depth of
which they are far from comprehending, blame what they call
the sensuality of the prophets ; this is no more than parallel to
the reproaches which are cast by certain sacrilegious heathens on
our Lord Himself, for folly, or rather for madness, in seeking
fruit on a tree at an unseasonable time of year, or for a sort of
childish simplicity, in stooping His head and writing on the
ground, and after His answer to certain questions beginning to
do the same again. For why ? they have no wisdom, no sense
to perceive that in great souls certain excellences resemble
certain blemishes in the mean and worthless ; there is some
slight show, but no real fairness, in the comparison. And they
who find such fault with the nobler sort are like untutored boys
in school, who having learned for a great discovery that singular
nouns require singular verbs, criticise the most skilful of Latin
authors for the phrase, ' Pars in frusta secant.' ' For,' say they,
' he should have written secat.'
" On which one might perhaps without absurdity remark, that
the verbal turns and figures of learned men are not further dis-
tant in their kind from the ungraramatical and barbarous phrase-
ology of the ignorant, than are the figurative deeds of the
Prophets from the sensual enormities of bad men. By which
rule, as a boy, who should plead Virgil's figure by way of
excuse for bad grammar, would be presently beaten with rods ;
so should any person guilty of adultery with his servant plead
Abraham's example, who raised up seed of Hagar, good were
it for that man to meet with some severer chastisement, and not
as set forth by Aiigust'inand Irencens. 89
to be eternally punished with other adulterers. I grant that of § iv. 16.
these comparisons one side are the merest trifles, the other side
truly great ; neither does our analogy tend to such a thing as
niakin<T a grammatical figure as important as a mystery, a solecism
equally culpable with an act of adultery ; only, by proportion,
in their several kinds, what skill and ignorance are in the virtues
and vices (so to call them) of language, that, although in a widely
different kind, are wisdom and folly in those moral virtues and
vices."
(16.) St.Irenaeus more briefly had taught the same doctrine long
before, vindicating the harmony of the two Testaments against
the Gnostics, who were in fact but an earlier development of the
Manichgean school. ** The great Revealer \" says he, *' is the
Son of the Father, as being from the beginning with the
Father. By Him accordingly prophetic visions, and differences
of gifts, His own ministeries and the Father's glory, have been
manifested to the race of man, in a certain train and regular
system, at such time as was expedient. For where things follow
each other in order, there is consistency and harmony ; and where
there is harmony, there each thing is suited to the time ; and
where there is such suitableness, there is true expediency." (This
is the same principle as was before observed on in Augustin, that
God's eternal law measures alike all dispensations, but that part
of that law is a certain equitable consideration of circumstances ;
and so far Irenseus too admits a kind of accommodation or moral
economy.) He goes on. " For this cause the Word became
Dispenser, Steward, Distributer of the Father's grace, according
to the needs of mankind, for whose sake He contrived so vast
arrangements." He proceeds to explain, that one of these
arrangements or providences was, for the prophets of old time
announcing as they did the future vision of Almighty God, to
see Him, see both the Father and the Son, not properly, but
*' so far as might practise and mould men's thoughts to receive
that glory, which is hereafter to be revealed to all who love
God. For not by discourse alone did the Fathers prophesv, but
also by vision, and conversation, and acts which they wrought,
» Lib. iv. § 37, p. 333, lin. 32. ed. Grabe,
90 Example : Marriages of Hosea and others.
§ 'V. 17. after the suggestion of the Spirit. In this sense then they
beheld the invisible GO0 : ... in this sense again they beheld
the Son of God, who is Man, conversing with men ; . . . and the
several progressive portions of that work by which He sums up
all, they partly beheld in vision, declared partly in words, and
partly signified as in type by action ; with their eyes beholding
what God would have seen, by their discourse proclaiming what
He would have heard, by their acts fulfilling what He would
have done ; in all, as prophets delivering their message."
(17.) The instance of revelation by action, which Irenseus se-
lects, is the marriage of the prophet Hosea, one of the cases on
which the adversaries had taken occasion to speak reproachfully '.
" Christ showed Himself to the prophets in their typical actions,
so as by them to prefigure and show forth things to come. Thus
the prophet Hosea took to him * a wife of whoredoms;' by that
act prophesying that the earth should commit great whoredom,
departing from the Lord ; meaning the men who are on the earth ;
and that out of such men God would be well pleased to take to
Himself a Church, to be sanctified by participation of His Son,
as she was sanctified by communion with the prophet."
That which Scripture here affirms of the marriage of Hosea,
viz., both its mystical purport, and its having been contracted by
Divine order, the Fathers consider to be implied generally in the
histories of the marriages of Prophets and Patriarchs ; and surely
they had warrant for their opinion, in St. Paul's commentary on
the narrative concerning Abraham and Hagar, which is quoted
by Origen (amongst others) for this argument ^ : " That the
Scriptural histories of brides and handmaids should be referred
to the mystical meaning, is no doctrine of ours, but received of
wise teachers from the beginning ; one of whom thus expressed
himself, awakening the hearer's mind to the mystical sense,
* Tell me, ye that desire,' " &c., (quoting the whole passage :)
and then he subjoins : " Whoever will take up the Epistle to the
Galatians will know how the allegory is employed in what relates
to the marriages [of the Patriarchs] and their unions with their
handmaids ; not as though it were the purport of God's Word,
> Iren. iv. 37, p. 33G. 26, 2 Contr. Cels. iv. 43. t. i. p. 537. C.
Sacramental Actions not to be lightly censured. 91
that we should imitate those who did so, in their external and § iv, 18.
bodily actions, but (as the disciples of Jesus use to call it) in
their spiritual ones."
(18.) These remarks of some of the most considerable Fathers
may serve perhaps both to explain and vindicate the judgment of
the ancient Church on certain parts of the sacred history. The
result of their rule is, that whenever an action startling to our
moral sense is recorded of any of the holy men of old, more
especially when it is accompanied with circumstances which
mark it out clearly as a Mystery or Sacrament of religion, (the
term Sacrament is used as commonly applied in Antiquity,) in such
instances, (Scripture being silent as to the moral nature of the
action), we cannot be sure that it was not either expressly com-
manded, like the sacrifice of Abraham, or at least prompted by
inspiration of the Holy Ghost. It becomes us therefore not to
criticise, but to adore.
This idea in various degrees pervades the reflections of the
Fathers on the case of Rebecca and Jacob, coming by subtlety,
and taking away what Esau supposed to be his blessing. One
writer indeed, St. Gregory Nazianzen, has spoken of it in terms
of censure. He having somewhere occasion to magnify the value
of a parent's blessing, observes that' " one of the elder saints
thought it worth obtaining even by stealth, deceiving his father
by meat and the contrivance of a hairy garment : he pursued a
noble object by ignoble means."
But besides St. Gregory, it does not appear that any of the early
Christian writers hesitated to consider the transaction in the same
light, wherein it is represented by St. Augustin in the following
passaged " That which Jacob did by direction of his mother, so
as to appear to deceive his father, if you consider diligently and
faithfully, «o?i est mendacium sed mysterium. Which sort of
thing, if we term it a lie, by the same rule all parables and figures
must be also accounted lies. . . . But if we are not prepared to
call it lying, whensoever words signifying one thing through
another are employed to communicate any truth ; it is clear that
' Apol. p. 40. 1). t. i ; Puris, 1(509.
* Contr. Mendac. ad Consent, c. 24, t. vi. 337. D.
92 Example in the Case of Jacob and Rebecca.
§ iv. 18. not only what Jacob said and did to obtain his father's blessing,
but also the discourse of Joseph, whereby he seemed to beguile
his brethren, and David's feigning madness, and other things of
that kind, ought to be acquitted of the guilt of lying, and rather
to be esteemed prophetic words and actions, to be referred
[exclusively] to the truths which we were meant to understand
by them." He regards the whole as a sort of scenery, (if the
expression may be reverently used) not only excusable but
praiseworthy in Rebecca, as being undertaken on intimation of
God's will.
St. Ambrose says S "Rebecca for her part did not so much
prefer one son to another, as the righteous to the unrighte-
ous. For in the mind of that pious mother the mystery over-
weighed the tie of affection. She was not so much preferring
Jacob to his brother, as offering him to the Lord, who, she knew,
had power to preserve the gift presented unto him." (This
seems to mean that in consecrating Jacob to be the first born,
she knowingly separated him from herself, and so made a great
sacrifice.) " Hereby," adds Ambrose, " she provided also for
Esau, withdrawing him as she did from the Divine displeasure,
lest he should be involved in deeper guilt, by losing the grace
of the benediction once received."
These words mark strongly St. Ambrose's sense of what we
should call the sacramental nature of the transaction. In sub-
stance, that view is sanctioned also by St. Chrysostom *. " Re-
becca," he says, " did this not of her own mind, but in obedience
to the divine oracle. What then ? a man may say, did God
co-operate with such a falsehood ? Nay, my brother, consider
not simply what was done, but look to the purpose : that he did
it not for any kind of worldly advantage, but sought to attract
to himself his father's blessing. If we are always to look simply
to the deed done, and not in every case to regard also the end,
we shall have for the next thing to call Abraham an infanticide,
and Phinehas a murderer. But not so . . . for each of them was
accomplishing a Divine decree. . . . Still more in this case your
' De Jacob et vita beata, ii. 6. ; t. i. 546.
» In Gen. Horn. 43 ; t. i. 415. ?. ed. Savil.
Tokens of Providence and Mystery in that Transaction. 93
thoughts are not to dwell on the words of Jacob being formally § iv. 18.
a falsehood, but you are to understand that God, willing to bring
His prediction to accomplishment, caused the whole so to take
place by way of economy." So far St. Chrysostom, who pro-
ceeds to point out God's hand in many minute details of the
transaction, such as Isaac's doubts being overruled ; the special
circumstance of his kissing Jacob, and limiting the blessing to
him whom he kissed, as by a kind of sacramental sign ; and
Esau's not returning from the field until the economy was com-
plete.
St. Chrysostom, we see, dwells chiefly on the marks of provi-
dential interference in the literal transaction : others have brought
out in a strong light the allegorical force of the things then said
and done, from hints given incidentally in other parts of the
Bible. Thus St. Ambrose \ not indulging his own fancy, but
following the tradition of an elder age of the Church : as appears
plainly by St. Jerome's report of the commentary of Hippolytus*
on this chapter of Genesis: "Jacob went to the flock, and
brought for his father the offspring of innocency, or the gifts of
sacred prophecy, because to the patriarch no food he knew
could be more welcome than that Christ, who was led as a
sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb to the sacrifice. . . . The
robe which he wore Rebecca brought out, in her character as
prefiguring the Church, and assigned to her younger son the
robe of the Old Testament, the prophetical and sacerdotal robe,
that royal robe of David, the robe of the kings, Solomon, Heze-
kiah, Josiah ; she brought out and gave it to the Christian
people, which would know how to use the favour received. For
the Jewish people had it without use, and knew not of their own
rich apparel. This robe was lying in the dimness, cast away and
neglected. For it was obscured by the dark gloom of irreligion,
and in the narrow heart of the Jewish people it could not be
spread out wider. Christ's nation put it on, and it shone forth ;
illumined by the brightness of their faith and the light of their
pious acts. Isaac recognised the order of his race, he knew the
robe of the elder Scripture, but the voice of the elder people he
» De Jacob, &c., n. O,- t. i. 546, » Ap. Galland. Blbl. Patr. t. ii. 485. B.
94 Tokens of God's /Agency in Conduct otherwise doubtful:
iv. 19. did not recognise ; and thereby he gathered that there was a
change [of people.] For to this day the same robe remains, but
a devouter nation hath arisen, and a confession clear and melo-
dious ; well therefore said he, * The voice is Jacob's voice, but
the hands are the hands of Esau.' "
Augustine * adds the selection of the tvpo kids ; " He bears
the sins of others, and he bears them patiently, though they
belong to others : for thus it is to wear the skins of the kids ;
the kids being the scriptural symbol of the two sinful people ;"
(and therefore one of the appointed sin offerings ;) " and Jacob
wearing them to represent both Christ and His Church in that
particular, the bearing of other men's burthens."
He dwells also * much on Jacob's being declared just before to
be a man without guile, " aTrXaoroc ; a significant expression,
leading one to infer that the subtlety so soon afterwards imputed
to him was not subtlety in a bad sense : it was a figure of speech,
as when Christ is called a Rock : it was no real fraud, especially
as Jacob might truly say to his father, that for the purpose in
question he was his elder son Esau ; for Esau had before that
made the agreement, sold his birthright, and put Jacob in his
own place.
Again ', there is the conduct of Isaac ; instead of being angry,
he trembled very exceedingly ; or as in the LXX. l^iirrT] iKSTaaiv
fityaX^v atpolpa : which kind of extasy, commonly happening
in the revelation of great things, we are to understand that God
gave him warning in his spirit to confirm the blessing to his
younger son, who otherwise should have incurred anger by
deceiving his father.
4gain*, he kissed Jacob before he blessed him, and not Esau:
confirming peace to the one and not to the other.
(19.) These are the kind of circumstances, which, to the Fathers'
view, betokened the special agency of the Most High in pro-
ceedings otherwise questionable, and which, as they thought,
ought to turn censure into reverence. It will be seen that they
are reducible to three heads : first, approbation of analogous
» Serm. iv. § IG ; t. v. 13. D. » Ibid. § 15— 2, 23.
» Ibid. § 21. * Ibid. § 24.
especially as regards Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 95
conduct in Scripture itself, such as Origen produces in the case of § iv. 18,20,
Hagar ; secondly, tokens of special providence in the particular
transaction, such as occurred to Chrysostom in the history of
Jacob ; thirdly, the use of known symbolical imagery, as marking
intended adaptation to the Christian mysteries ; which head, as
we have seen, may be largely illustrated from Augustin and
Ambrose on the same case.
It may be added, that they regarded themselves as especially
bound to notice every thing of this kind, — to be more than com-
monly afraid to censure, — in treating of the lives of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. On passing from their history to that of
others, Augustin, it will be found, changes his tone, so far as to
be less positive in his vindications where the Scripture is silent.
The reason is implied in the sentence which forms the transition '.
*' Thus much concerning the three fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, whose God He willed Himself to be called, Who is our
God, Whom the Catholic Church worships." The Church had
learned from the beginning to regard them as the chosen repre-
sentatives of the Head Christ Jesus, and of the Body, the
Church. God was not ashamed to be called their God ; they
were in a peculiar sense the types of His chosen. His saints ; it
was wise therefore, and safe, and dutiful, to hold them in espe-
cial reverence. With this view ^ Irenaeus, e. g., has expounded
the whole history of Jacob ; of that one among the three, whose
right to such honour the disputers of this world would be most
apt to question.
(20.) In other cases, as might be expected, their scrupulousness
and reverence were mainly in proportion to their sense of the
mystical meaning. Thus where it is written of Noah, tiruy
tK rov (Hvov, KaX IjiEQvaQr], koX kyvfivwdrf, iv r&» c'kv^ avrov,
they had no thoughts other than those of deepest reverence,
considering not only what is so obvious, that the whole was
involuntary through ignorance on the Patriarch's part, on which
many of them argue largely ^ ; but also that which St. Cyprian
writes, not in the tone of an ingenious inventor, but of one who had
* Contr. Faust, xxii. c. 50. » Lib. iv. c. 38.
* E. G. S. Chrys. in Gen. Horn. 29, t. I. 22C. cd. Savil.
96 Noah and Lot. The Fathers' Sense of the Communion of Saints.
§ iv. 21. received it from tradition ecclesiastical '. '• We find, in Genesis,
in the case of Noah, an image of our Lord's Passion : that he
drank of the wine, that he was drunken ; that he was naked in
his own house ; that he lay with his limbs bare and extended ;
that the nakedness was pointed out by his second son, and
reported abroad, but covered by the other two, the elder and the
younger : and other particulars not to our present purpose."
With the case of Lot and his daughters, as might be expected,
they deal in a much more doubtful tone ; assigning as one rea-
son the comparative imperfection of his character, and intimating
a doubt (at least such is Origen's view ') whether this can fairly
be reckoned among those narratives which prefigure Christ's
sacred economy. At the same time they are exact in pointing
out the probability (to which the air of the narrative certainly
would lead us) that the women acted under the supposition of
the whole world besides themselves and their father having
been destroyed by the fire and brimstone. " They suspected,"
says Origen *, " that some such thing had happened as they had
heard of in the days of Noah, and they alone with their father
were left for the renovation of the human race."
(21.) This interpretation (in which many of the old writers'*
agree), while it shows that they, contrary to some people's state-
ments, used their common sense in applying to the sacred history
the ordinary distinctions and measures of right and wrong, exhibits
also a clear instance of that other characteristic, which, as was before
said, causes them in all their discussions to take the favourable side,
to a degree which to many moderns has appeared extravagant :
— their deep sense of the Communion of Saints, as a relation
really subsisting between them and the Patriarchs and Pro-
phets, and not merely as a figure of speech. It should seem as if
this feeling were the natural growth of the other, viz., of the
reverential consciousness of God's own immediate presence, over-
ruling the Patriarchs' conduct in such a way, as to make the
1 Ep. 63. ed. Fell. p. 149.
' Contr. Cels. iv. 45 j in Gen. Horn. V. 5. ' In Gen. Horn. V. § 4, 5.
* S. Aug. contr. Faust, xxii. 43; S. Iren. iv. 61 i S. Ambr. de Abrali. i. 50.
Tradition, against judging harshly of Scripture Characters. 97
whole a series of links, binding the old dispensations to the new. § iv. 22.
Those who really contemplated the matter so, must have looked
on Noah, Abraham, Jacob, and the rest, as sharers with them in the
same Sacraments ; not only as spiritual Fathers by the example
of their faith, but also (since Christ's coming) as brethren in
His grace. The duty therefore of lenity of supposition, the com-
mand to impute no evil, would hold in their case with peculiar
force ; becoming as it did the more affecting, by the sense that it
was demanded not for the living but for the dead ; and the more
serious and awful, by the knowledge, that for ought they could
tell, God's own hand and counsel might be more or less in the
things which they were blaming.
(22.) For these reasons we find the Fathers constantly, even
where the Mystical meaning was entirely concealed from them, or
where they gave it no direct consideration — we find them check-
ing to the utmost all inclination to censure ihe holy men of old
without express authority. The principle is laid down by
Irenaeus, in words the more worthy of every believer's atten-
tion, in that he utters them not as his own, but as the words of a
certain Presbyter, who had heard them from the eye-witnesses
and scholars of the Apostles. Irenaeus, having stated it as one
of the marks of a sound teacher, that " he expounds the
Scriptures to us without peril, neither blaspheming God, nor dis-
honouring Patriarchs, nor despising Prophets," goes on to record
the following, as an apostolical tradition^: "That for the old
Fathers, concerning those things which they wrought without the
counsel of the Spirit, that censure is sufficient which the Scrip-
ture itself contains. God is no respecter of persons : — to things
not done according to His will, He himself annexed that censure
which was convenient." He instances at large in the cases of
David and Solomon, concerning whom, he adds*, " the aforesaid
Presbyter affirmed that the rebuke of Holy Writ was sufficient ;
that no flesh might glory in the presence of the Lord."
The next sentence, whatever some may think of the statement
contained in it, is at least a mark of the ancient Church's anxiety
to assert for the Patriarchs, as was just now observed, a part in the
» Lib. iv. 45. p. 345. ed. Grab. » Ibid. p. 346.
VOL. VI. — 89. H
98 Use to he made of the Failures of holy Men of old:
§ iv. 22. Communion of Saints. " For this cause, that ancient Presbyter
went on to say, the Lord descended to the regions under the earth,
declaring to them also the good tidings of His advent ; remission
of sins being appointed for them only who believe. Now those
believed in Him, whosoever were before hoping in Him, i. e.
those who foretold His coming, and did the work of His mysteri-
ous providences, righteous men, and Prophets, and Patriarchs.
Their sins He forgave as he did ours : which sins, therefore, it
becomes us not any more to lay to their charge ; except we think
scorn of the grace of God For all men need the glory of
God, and are justified not of themselves but by the coming of the
Lord : those I mean who look steadily on His light.
" He taught moreover that their acts were written for our
reproof, that we might know this first, that there is one God, both
ours and theirs, whom sins cannot please, though wrought by
renowned persons. Next, that we might keep ourselves from evil
things. For if those elders who went before us in God's special
graces, for whom the Son of God had not yet suffered, were
visited with such disgrace, if they transgressed in some one thing,
and became slaves to fleshly concupiscence ; what shall this gene-
ration suffer, as many as have despised the coming of the Lord,
and turned utter slaves to their own pleasures! . . . . ' We ought
not then', said that Presbyter, * to be proud, nor to reproach the
ancients, but ourselves to fear, lest haply after the knowledge of
Christ, if we do any thing which pleases not God, we no longer
have remission of our sins, but find ourselves shut out of His
kingdom.' "
A little farther on * he produces the authority of the same Presby-
ter for this sentiment : "As on account of those sins which the Scrip-
tures themselves lay to the charge of the Patriarchs and Prophets,
we are not to reproach them, nor become like Ham, who derided
his father's shame and fell under the curse ; but rather to thank
God for them, that their sins were forgiven them in the coming
of our Lord : even as they, he said, give thanks, and are glorified
in our salvation : — So concerning those deeds which the Scriptures
reprove not at all, but simply relate them, we ought not, he said,
' Lib. iv. cap. 50.
exemplified bij Irenceus in Lot, Adam, and Abraham. 99
to become accusers ; (for we are not more exact than God, § iv. 22.
neither can we be above our Master) but we ought to look out
for the spiritual meaning. For whatsoever things are set down
in the Scriptures without censure, not one of them is idly set
down, nor without meaning."
And then' he gives the example of Lot and his daughters,
adopting (it is not Irenaeus, observe, but the apostolical Presbyter)
that interpretation which Origen, as we have seen, doubted of as
too favourable. A thing much to be remarked by those, who
think little of the Mystical method, as supposing it a figment of
Platonism, or a contrivance of a later school in the Church.
A signal example of the mildness above inculcated had been
given by the same Irenaeus a little before*, in arguing against
Tatian, who denied the possibility of Adam's salvation. He con-
trasts Adam's proceedings even after his fall with those of the
Evil Spirit, and says, " It was another who seduced him under
pretence of immortality : and being seduced, he presently fears,
and hides himself; not as though he could escape God, but in
his confusion, because having transgressed His command, he is
unworthy to come to the sight or speech of God. Now the fear
of the Lord is the beginning of understanding : the understanding
of sin causes penitence : and to the penitent God vouchsafes His
mercy. Moreover, by his girdle or apron he manifested his
penitence in the way of significant action : .... as though he
had said, ' By disobedience I have lost that robe of holiness
which I had from the Holy Spirit : I now acknowledge that I
deserve that sort of vesture, which can give no pleasure, but galls
and vexes the body.' And this dress evidently he would always
have worn, humbling himself, had not God who is merciful
clothed them with coats of skins instead of the fig-leaves."
Another case very much in point is their view of the conduct
of Abraham in Egypt, making known Sarah as his sister, not as
his wife : it was no falsehood, as he himself explained afterwards,
and, that there was in it no unfaithful timidity, Augustin' argues
on this ground : that " it is a sound precept, when a man has
> Cap. 51. » Lib. iii. 37.
* Contr. Faust, lib. xxii. 36.
u 2
100 Mitigating Circumstances allotved for : Moses and Aaron.
§ iv. 23. any resource, not to tempt the Loud his God : and that our
Saviour Himself set an example to that purpose, both by flying
into Egypt in his childhood, and by going up to a certain feast
not openly but as it were in secret. ... So Abraham among
strangers, because of the exceeding beauty of Sarah finding him-
self in a double danger, both of her honour and her husband's
life, and not being able to protect botli, but having it in his
power to do something for one of the two, i. e. his own life ; that
he might not tempt his God, he took what precaution he could ;
and where he could do nothing, that cause he committed to his
God."
One may observe in passing, that the suspicion of any parti-
cular want of faith in Abraham on that occasion is greatly lessened
by what he afterwards told Abimelech^: that the concealment
of his marriage was not a measure to which they were driven
by the present alarm, but one which they had constantly used
by way of precaution since they first set out on their pilgrimage.
(23.) Elsewhere the rule of favourable construction is applied,
where the act is allowed to be censurable, with a view to mitigation,
not entire acquittal. Thus Aaron is conjectured by Augustin *
to have proposed to the Israelites tlie breaking off their ear-rings,
with a view to withdraw them by the hardness of the command
from their idolatrous intention. Thus Theodoret*, relating the
oversight of Moses in striking the rock, insists carefully on the
many circumstances which might seem according to human mea-
sures to render an expression of impatience for the moment
completely venial. " They (Moses and Aaron) being out of
heart at their sister's death, the people set on them, mutinying
for want of water ; they, therefore, impatient at such extreme
unruliness, used words of equivocal meaning on bringing out the
water, ' Must we fetch you water out of this rock V in a tone as
if he doubted, so great was his wrath with them. It was, how-
ever, a doubt not of the soul but of the lips only : for so the
1 Gen. XX. 13.
' Qusst. in Exod. 141. t. 3. pars i. 347: comp. Theodoret on Exod. qu.
66. t. i. 170.
» In Num. qu. 37. t. i. 245.
Lenity in judging even of questionable Characters. 101
Greek Bible expresses it, SuareiXev, he made a distinction, or § Jv. 24.
hesitated, with his lips." " However," adds Theodoret, '* we
must not forget that Gou pronounced this sentence (of exclusion
from the promised land) with a view to another dispensation
which He was carrying on." Here we see plainly the studious
apologist : yet who can deny that the tone is right and scriptural ?
(24-.) The same lenityof supposition is sometimes extended to the
conduct of persons, concerning whose general character Scripture
is either silent, or at first sight might appear condemnatory. Thus
of Rachel stealing her father's images, Theodoret writes ^, " Some
say, Rachel stole them out of an affection she still entertained
for them ; I, quite on the contrary, suppose that, desiring to free
her father from superstition, she did, as it were, make prize of
them : for of her general piety we are certified by the divine
Scripture." Having confirmed this by several texts, he proceeds
to suggest a prophetic meaning. Jacob was a type of the Lord
of all : for, as God had two peoples, — the elder, having a veil
upon its heart, the younger, endowed with the beauty of faith ;
even so Jacob, two wives, Leah, tender eyed, Racliel, beautiful
and well-favoured ; the elder with many children, the younger
barren : for the Church also of the Gentiles of old was barren,
but became afterwards very fruitful Since then, the
Church, upon faith in God our Saviour, pulled up by the roots
the error of her forefathers, Rachel, being a type of that
Church, stole the idols of her father, that herein also she mio-ht
offer a dim shadow of the truth." Here one is tempted to
remark, how much we may lose by the cold and dry way, in
which we are apt to read the sacred history, as mere matter of
criticism, historical, or moral, contrasted with the high and
thrilling views, wherewith the ecclesiastical rules of interpretation
reward those who fairly adopt them.
Other instances of the like lenity, applied even to persons more
clearly in the wrong, may be found in Thtodoret'- on the histories
of Thaniar, the daughter-in-law of Judah, and of the Bethel'
» In Gen. qu. 90. t. i. p. 98. » Ibid. qu. 95. p. 103.
Mu 3 Reg. qu. 43. t. i. 487—490.
102 Lenity of Comment on the New Testament History.
iv. 25, 26. Prophet, whose advice caused the death of the messenger sent
to Jeroboam.
(25.) A fortiori, one should expect the like mildness in the com-
ments of Antiquity on the New Testament. One instance may be
here given, because it relates to a matter which is and has been
much misinterpreted : St. Paul's condescension in the matter of cer-
tain Jewish observances. " God forbid," exclaims St. Augustin \
*' that we should account him to have done this deceitfully. For
on this subject his sentence is well known ; that neither such
Jews as then believed in Christ should be forbidden the tradi-
tions of their fathers, nor the Gentiles, on becoming Christians,
be forced to observe the same : lest on the one hand those holy
mysteries, which were known to rest on the Divine command,
should come to be shunned as profanations, — on the other, to be
accounted necessary to salvation for all who turned to God under
the New Testament St. Paul's saying, therefore, ' I am
made all things to all men,' tells us what he did in the way of
sympathy, not in the way of deceitful accommodation
He is made as a Jew to the Jews, not by deceiving them, but by
putting himself, in thought, in their place and mind."
(26.) Thus far by way of illustration of the two chief principles,
by which antiquity seems to have been guided, in commenting on
the startling and painful portions of the history of God's ancient
people. One more general observation remains : it is a negative
statement, and requires a much larger induction than at present
it professes to rest upon ; but it is submitted to the judgment of
those who are really versed in ancient theology. Whether the
Fathers do in any case plead the Mystical meaning of a transac-
tion as any excuse for it, granting it indeed immoral. The
Mystery comes in, to show that God's hand was in what took
place, and often, among other circumstances, may lead to the
supposition of an express command from God, and so may
indirectly tend to do away with the immorality : but the whole
tone of their commentaries indicates, and sometimes they ex-
* Contra Mendac. ad Consent. § 26. t. vi. 339 : compare his correspondence
with St. Jerome, t. ii. 64, 131, 148, &c.
The Mystery never alleged to palliate the Sin. 103
pressly disavow, any thought of palliating guilt by the simple § iv. 27.
fact of the action being afterwards found typical. Thus St.
Augustin\ examining in order the cavils of the Manichaeans,
against one narrative after another, premises in every case liis
literal defence or explanation, before he touches the sacramental
or mysterious meaning. Thus Theodoret^ although as firmly as
any one adhering to the mystical mode of exposition, advances
in mitigation those circumstances only, which may be gathered
from the letter, in such histories as those of Noah, Lot, and
Thamar. Thus even St. Ambrose, who seems to have been most
passionately carried away by his admiration of the elder saints,
and most afraid to exercise any judgment of his own upon their
conduct — and who in his second Apology for David, to which
may be added some expressions about the incest of Judah, comes,
perhaps, as near as any writer to a questionable plea from the mys-
tical interpretation, as though it in some degree palliated the sin, —
even he, we shall find, does not enter on the consideration of the
Mystery at all, before he has used considerations drawn from the
literal history to adjust the degree of censure required by the case*.
(27.) If we pass from these indications of caution, to express
disavowals by the Fathers of immoral use of the mystical princi-
ple, we meet with one in St. Ambrose himself*, remarking on the
conduct of Aaron, in assisting the Israelites to make an idol.
" That renowned High Priest we can neither acquit, nor yet
dare we altogether condemn him. However, he was not without
a special meaning in taking away the rings and jewels of the
Jews ; for they who were plotting sacrilege could not have the
seal of faith."
Thus St. Ambrose : and his scholar St. Augustin repeats the
same caution many times. For example ', " The conduct of
Lot and his daughters we do not justify, on the ground of its
having had a meaning, whereby it foretold the perverseness of
some in future times. Their purpose in so acting was one,
God's purpose in permitting such actions, with a view to certain
1 Contr. Faust. I. xxii. ' In Gen. qu. 56, 70, 95.
» T. i. 823, &c. * Ep. 68.
» Contr. Faust, xxii. 41. t. vi. 273.
104 Temper in which Bible History should be read.
§ iv. 28. typical instruction, another ; His just judgment abiding the while
on the sin of the persons then living, and His providence watch-
fully securing the mystical representation of others to come long
after. The deed then related in Holy Scripture is a prophecy ;
considered in their conduct who performed it, it is a crime."
Again, in speaking of the incest of the patriarch Judah : the
truth of the spiritual meaning, he says, and the criminality of the
act, may well stand together *. " The conduct of Judah, in
regard of his unbridled passion, was evil, but without his know-
ledge it presignified an exceeding good : and let this caution
stand for all other evil deeds of men, whereby He who records
their history hath seen fit to prophesy good to us."
(28.) It is not of course pretended that the Fathers acted in all
cases up to their own rule : so many of them, writing so miscellane-
ously, all of like passions with us. But it is believed that the rules
above illustrated will go a good way towards explaining the differ-
ence between their theology and ours, in what may be called the
casuistry of the historical Scriptures. And we, perhaps, should
read Bible history to more advantage, if we tried to keep the
same principles in view ; the principle, namely, of reverencing
throughout the mysterious connexion of that history, even the
most startling portions of it, with the Economy of our Salvation by
the Son of God : and the principle of entire respect for the Saints
of the Old Covenant ; fearing to censure them where Scripture is
silent; welcoming all reasonable topics of mitigation even where
they are clearly blameable ; never rudely sitting in judgment on
them, but looking up to them as to elder brethren, who might of
course err, but whom it is no part of ours to reprove, feeling as
we must in every part of their history, read by the light of Chris-
tian faith, that we are even now with them in the more immediate
presence of our common Lord and Father.
It may be, that thus our notions may remain unsettled, on
many actions recorded in the Bible ; of which we would gladly
know what to think, both for our own and other men's satisfaction.
What then ? it is one of the tokens of true theology, to acknow-
• Conlr. Faust. § 82. p. 292, 3.
Reverence for the Saints, a Safeguard to Faith. 105
ledge doubtfulness and perplexity, more or less, in every subject. § iv, 28.
A religious man would not think himself at liberty to question
God's moral government, because of the embarrassment con-
tinually occasioned by the inconsistencies of the good, and the
general difficulty of discerning men's real character ; how then
dare any one positively insist on full satisfaction in his view of
the conduct of God's Saints ? As it is, the doubtfulness of many
things has this advantage, sufficient to outweigh much annoyance;
that it lessens the apparent difference between the scenes of
Scripture and common life ; lessens the temptation to forget how
near God is to us ; helps us to feel our true condition, as full of
supernatural wonders, could we but realize them, as ever was
that of the Jews and patriarchs of old.
Moreover, the habit of thus considering Scripture will prove
in some respects an important doctrinal safeguard. The Saints
(be it spoken with all reverence) were types of the Almighty ;
their conduct in many respects analogous to His economies ;
and if we use ourselves to speak or think of them hastily and
irreverently, the transition will be found less violent than some
might imagine, to irreverent ways of speaking and thinking of
Him. Those who can bring themselves to talk superciliously,
and judge by mere modern measures, of the conduct of Abraham
or Jacob, or of the destruction of tiie Canaanites, are perhaps in a
fair way to question the reality of the Atonement, or the eternity
of the wrath to come.
Lastly, the same considerations may prove available, in some
material parts of discipline, devotional and moral ; — teaching us
to acquiesce with things which we cannot account for, in the con-
duct of those who are more experienced in God's service than
ourselves, and especially assisting us to recognize the overruling
Arm, even in the worst excesses and perversions of men, and to
take all tranquilly, knowing from Whom it comes.
The subject which will naturally come next in order, is the
Fathers' application of the Mystical Principle to the exposition
of the New Testament.
106 Objections to allegorizing the New Testament,
§ V. — Ancient Mysticism as applied to the Interpretation of the
New Testament.
s ^- • The object of this section is, allowing the fact, that the ancient
interpreters did apply the mystical principle very largely to the
New Testament, to point out some of the rules by which they
conducted that process, the limits within which they confined
it, and the good purposes, which, under such rules and limits,
it was calculated to answer.
But the very mention of mystical interpretation, as applied to
the Christian Scriptures, suggests in limine a plausible objection,
which it may be as well to anticipate in some measure, before
proceeding any further. It may and will be said, " Whatever one
may think of the degree and manner in which they allegorized the
Old Testament, all must allow that to a certain extent they were
borne out by Scripture in so doing. But to allegorize the New
Testament at all, what is it but turning the substance into a
shadow, and by consequence unsettling the very foundations of
religion ?" Those accordingly, who wish to be very severe upon
the Fathers, have thought proper, in treating of this head, to
make mention of the wild and cloudy dreams of the early Quakers ',
and other modern enthusiasts ; as if the two things admitted
some kind of comparison.
Again, taking another point of view, it may be argued that
such a line of interpretation coincides too nearly with that which
St. Paul so earnestly deprecates in the Epistle to the Galatians.
This, it may be said, is the very essence of the Law, that it had
but a shadow of good things to come. By allegorizing the Gos-
pel, you are so far making it also a shadow ; and what is this
but going back to the Law, and incurring at once all the ana-
themas which the zealous Apostle pronounces on all such dis-
turbers of Christian perfection ?
This way of objecting would be as just as it sounds plausible,
if either the truth of the New Testament history, or what we
may call the completeness of the dispensation, were impugned by
' E. g. Whitby, p. 8 ; 345 ; & Pref. p. Ix.
as touching on its Truth, and Completeness : obviated. 107
the mystical interpretations current in antiquity. But such is by § v, 2.
no means the case. As to the truth of the history ; something
was said in a former section, to shew that even Origen and his
followers, who are most censurable on that head, never thought
of denying or doubting the main facts ; and that even where they
speak most freely of minor details, as though the apparent dis-
crepancies of the evangelical narrative could only be reconciled
by supposing an admixture of allegory, it is not so much real
contradiction, which they impute to the sacred historians, as an
appearance of contradiction, which they assume to be intended
and providential.
Again, as to the other point, of completeness ; the danger of
sweeping negatives is proverbial, yet I suppose one might safely
challenge the production from any orthodox writer, or from any
of the school of Origen who had not been condemned as a heretic,
of a single passage, tending to make out the Gospel scheme im-
perfect, in the sense here alleged, — Judaically imperfect — a shadow
and forerunner of better things to come even on this earth ; or
as any other than the last and best of God's appointed ways of
preparing His banished for restoration. Those blasphemies were
reserved for such as Manes and Mahomet, and for that kind of
infidelity, so current in our days, which allowing that the Gospel
was well enough in its time, expects more however, in this and
in coming generations, from the spirit of the age, than from the
Spirit of the Church. We do not find even Origen's licentious
disciples, who incurred Church censures in the fifth general
council, stigmatized with any opinion of the kind.
History then does not warrant our attributing either of the
supposed ill tendencies to the mystical way of expounding the
New Testament ; and a little consideration will show that in rea-
son and argument they are quite separable from it : as will be
presently evident, on proceeding to inquire calmly, what this
Mysticism, which has such an ill name, really amounts to ; and
on what great principles it is grounded.
(2.) The nature and amount of it may be best understood, by
producing a few examples ; which will serve also incidentally to
shew, how early it prevailed in the Church of God, and by what
108 New Testament Allegory : our Lord's Parahhs :
§ V. 2. high authorities it was untloubtingly sanctioned. Hear, for instance,
St. Clement of Alexandria, descanting on the circumstances of
the parable of the Good Samaritan. *' Which of the three," says
our Lord, " was neighbour to the sufferer ?" The other answer-
ing, " He that showed mercy on him ;" " Who then," says
Clement^ " is our neighbour, rather than the Saviour Himself?
To whom, rather than to Him, are we indebted for pity, all but
slaughtered as we were by the rulers of the darkness of this world,
with so many wounds, with fears, desires, angers, griefs, deceits,
pleasures ? Of all these wounds the only healer is Jesus, cutting
out entirely every passion by the roots, not as the Law did, the
porduce merely, the fruits of the pernicious plants, but laying His
own axe to the roots of iniquity. This is He who pours the
wine, the blood of the vine of David, into our wounded souls ;
who from the tender mercies of the Father brings oil, and that
in abundance : this is He who makes known to us the indissolu-
ble bands of health and salvation ; charity, faith, hope ; this is He
who hath enjoined angels and authorities and powers to minister
to us for a great reward : i. e. for the deliverance which them-
selves also shall receive from the vanity of the world at tiie
revelation of the glory of the Sons of God."
Besides the main lesson or moral of the parable, he assumes
it to be full of designed allusions (and surely as he exhibits
them they are very beautiful allusions) to the mystery of the
Gospel, the process of our salvation by Christ. Neither would it
be safe to attribute this to the play of Clement's own imagina-
tion, or to the manner of the Alexandrian school. For we find
the same turn given to the parable by Irenaeus, a far graver and
less diffuse writer, and trained in a remote part of the Church,
where there is no cause to believe that the writings of Philo or
other Jewish mystics had any particular influence. Irenaeus, the
disciple of Polycarp, argues thus on a circumstance of this
parable'. " The dew of God [the Holy Ghost] is necessary to
us, that we be not scorched nor made unfruitful, and that where
we have an accuser, there also we may have an advocate [Para-
» De Div. Servand. § 29. p. 952. ed. Potter. * Lib. iii. 19. p. 244. ed. Grab.
Clement and Irenceus on the good Samaritan. 109
cletum] : For the Lord commends to the Holy Ghost that man § v. 3.
of His who had fallen among thieves, whom Himself pitied, and
bound up his wounds ; him Christ commends to the care of the
Holy Spirit, giving two pence, of royal coinage : in order, that
we, who receive by the Spirit the image and inscription of the
Father and the Son, may improve the penny committed to us,
accounting for it with manifold increase to our Lord."
It will be perceived that Irenaeus is even more express than
Clement, in sanctioning the allegorical exposition of this parable.
Clement's language might be accounted for, by supposing him
merely to be indulging in a vein of half poetical allusion ; but
Irenaeus produces his exposition as a theological argument
against an error of the Gnostics ; a part of whose creed was,
that the Mon Christ descended on the Man Jesus at His Bap-
tism. In opposition to which, St. Irenaeus, maintaining, of
course, that it was the Holy Spirit which so descended, pro-
ceeds to show by many scriptural arguments, how conformable
that circumstance was to the office assigned to the Comforter in
the economy of salvation : e. g. to His regenerating influence in
Baptism ; to the miracle of Pentecost, as fulfilling the promise
of our Lord ; to the images of water, and dew, under which He
is repeatedly described ; and for his last instance he adduces, as
we have seen, the circumstance of the good Samaritan on his
departure committing the rescued traveller to another's care,
until Himself should return ; this Irenseus brings forward as
a known and acknowledged type of tlie office of the Holy
Ghost, so well known and acknowledged, as to warrant him in
reasoning from it to the interpretation of disputed passages.
So early, and in such high quarters, do we find warrant for
considering our Lord's parables, with a view not only to the
immediate moral of each, but also to certain hints of things
future or supernatural, which even their minute details are sup-
posed to convey ; which is one considerable branch of New
Testament Mysticism.
(3.) Another, and a yet more extensive one, relates not to His
words, but to His conduct. It consists in tracing tl.rough details,
apparently indifferent, of what bcfel our Divine Master on earth,
110 New Testament Allegory : our Lord's History :
§ V. 4. providential illustrations of His dealings with His peoj)le, or of
their future fortunes, trials, and behaviour. To take an instance
which occurs not seldonn, and is met with very early : the minute
enumeration, varying in the different Evangelists, of the cir-
cumstances attending His last entry into Jerusalem. Justin
Martyr, in his dialogue with Tryphon, writes thus of a part of
the dying prophecy of Jacob'. " The expression, ' binding his
foal to the vine, and his ass's colt to the choice vine,' was a
foreshowing of the works wrought in His first coming, and of
the Gentiles also, who were to believe in Him. For these were
as a foal that had never borne a burden, nor taken any yoke
upon his neck, until such time as this our Christ came, and sent
His disciples, and made them followers of His own. Then
they submitted to the yoke of His word, and bowed their backs
to endure all things, for the blessing's sake which they waited
for, and which he had foretold. And in fact, there was a certain
she-ass with her colt, bound at the entrance of a certain village,
by name Bethphage, which our Lord Jesus Christ, on the point
of entering Jerusalem, commanded His disciples to bring to Him,
and sitting thereon, He made His entry into the city. Which
being notoriously done by Him, according to what had been pro-
phesied of the future doings of Christ, made it evident that He
was the Christ. . . But as to the circumstance, that the Prophe-
tic Spirit agrees with the Patriarch Jacob, in mentioning the ass
before accustomed to the yoke, as well as her colt, ... as also
that He Himself enjoined His disciples, as I said before, to bring
both animals ; these things were a prophetic intimation to those
also of your synagogue, who should concur with certain of the
Gentiles in believing on Him. For as the colt unharnessed was
a sign to those of the Gentiles, so also to those of your peo-
ple the she-ass under her burthen. For the law given you by
the Prophets is as a burthen laid on you."
(4.) The same interpretation is mentioned by Origen ; accompa-
nying it however, as his manner is, with a conjecture of his own,
which on the whole he seems to prefer. " I know," he writes ^
> P. 272. C. ed. 1736. * In Joan. torn. x. 18. t. iv. 190. D.
Justin and Origen on His Entry into Jerusalem. Ill
** that some have interpreted the ass tied, to be the believers of the § *• •*.
Circumcision, released from many bonds by those who truly and
spiritually had become disciples of the Word. The colt, on the
other hand, they expound to be the Gentile believers, who were
at large before they received the doctrine of Jesus, and who in
respect of their unbridled and self-pleasing ways, might be
regarded as having shaken off every yoke. These expounders
have omitted the circumstance of the multitude going before and
following. However, one might perhaps, with some plausibility,
make the former answer to Moses and the prophets, the latter
to the Holy Apostles, entering all together into some mystical
Jerusalem ;" the meaning of which he next proceeds to point
out.
The whole passage may serve as an instructive specimen of the
difference between Origen and the generality of the Fathers.
The exposition which he produces as second best, is evidently
that in which the Church commonly acquiesced ; as may further
appear from the sanction afterwards given to it both by Ambrose
and Augustin — Ambrose thus expressing himselt \ " Well is it
written, ' on which never man sate ;' since none ever before Christ
called the Gentile nations into the Church." Augustin again,
speaking as of an allowed point * : " By the ass's colt on which
never man had sat, we understand the people of the Gentiles,
who had not received the law of the Lord. By the she-ass,
(since both beasts were brought to the Lord) that portion of His
congregation which came from the people of Israel ; not alto-
gether untamed, but such as to have known her master's
crib."
But Origen, not contented with this prophetical interpretation
of the event in question, states also as possible, and recommends
as on the whole preferable, the following moral interpretation of
the same: which however he advances (it is but justice to him
to remark it) with expressions denoting unaffected reverence and
modesty'. "Jesus," he conjectures, "is the Word of God, en-
tering into the soul, here called Jerusalem, borne on the she-
' In Luc. lib. ix. 5. ' In Joan. Tract. 51. § 5. t. iii. pars i. p. 462. A.
' In Joan. x. t. iv. 189. E.
112 Origen joins Moral with Type in our Lord's History.
§ V. 5, ass which His disciples liad loosed from her bonds : i. e. on the
uncorrupt writings of the Old Testament expounded by the
disciples, whose business it is to solve them, and who are two in
number : i. e. the two kinds of mystical interpretation, the
moral and the prophetical : the one referring all things that are
written to the healing of the soul, and with that view allegorizing
them ; the other exhibiting the good and true things to come,
through those set before us in shadow. But He rides also on
the young colt, the New Testament ; (for in both we may find the
word of truth,) to purify us, and expel those thoughts which buy
and sell within us. And into Jerusalem, the soul, He enters not
alone, nor yet with some few only ; for many things must take
place in us to go before the Word of God, which protects us, and
very many to follow Him ; all however hymning and praising
Him, and spreading under Him their own array and vesture, that
those which are His vehicles may not touch the earth, while He
deigns to abide on them, who came down from Heaven."
Such is Origen's descant on this part of our Lord's history :
into which he was probably led, as was before hinted, by his
wish to preserve as much as might be of the moral mysticism of
Philo and others, in addition, not in preference, to the kind of
allegory more properly Christian. Whatever may be thought
of the general principle, it will perhaps'^be allowed, that in this
instance it is beautifully applied, and may remind us of one of
the Advent Hymns of Bishop Taylor\
(5.) The arguments too are not contemptible by which Origen in
the first instance vindicates the looking out for some mystical
meaning in this passage'. *' I should like to ask those who
• Works. XV. 77- ed. Heber.
" Ride on triumphantly : behold, we lay
Our lusts and proud wills in Thy way.
Hosanna ! welcome to our hearts. Lord, here
Thou hast a Temple too, and full as dear
As Sion, and as full of sin.
Nothing but thieves and robbers dwell therein —
Enter, and chase them forth, and cleanse the floor," &c.
» T. iv. 187. D.
Mystical Allusions to Water in the New Testament. 113
think that nothing beyond the literal history was in St. Matthew's § v. 6.
mind when writing his Gospel, what was the urgent necessity of
sending the two disciples into the village over against Bethpiiage,
to find and loose the ass tied and the colt with her, and bring
them to Jesus. What was there especially worth recording in
the fact that our Lord sat on the ass and colt, and so entered
into the city ? . . . If the prophecy of Zechariah merely predict the
outward and bodily event as narrated by the evangelists, let us
see how those who stay themselves on the letter keep entire the
connecting thread of the prophecy ; what they make of the passage
immediately following, about cutting off the chariot from Ephraim
and the horse from Jerusalem, &c. (an argument," he adds,
" wherewith the Jews press us not slightly.) . . . They can-
not say that the two animals were needed on account of the
length of the way, that being only fifteen furlongs. . . . Nor do
I suppose that it suits well with the majesty of the Son's Divi-
nity, to say that so great a Being avowed Himself to have need
of an ass tied and a colt with her."
There are other particulars which he mentions : but these rrtay
suffice for a specimen of the kind of criticism, by which the
allegorical method was supported, when it began to be called in
question : ivhich does not appear to have been until Origen's
time; the attack being most likely provoked by his incautious
use of it. Certainly there seems to be a good deal of weight in
such points of detail as he here alleges, not so much in behalf of
his particular interpretation, as in establishing the general fact,
that some spiritual meaning lies hid in these things ; and if in
them, then by parity of reasoning in other narratives, the parti-
culars of which are (speaking humanly) as unaccountable as in
this instance.
(6.) It may be worth while to add on this head one passage from
TertuUian, as a striking example of the manner, in which those
primitive readers of the New Testament caught up things which
we esteem casual and transient, and improved them to spiritual
purposes. He is showing how full Scripture is of allusions to the
doctrine of Salvation by Water, and thus he sums up the incidental
TOL. VI. — 89. I
114 Mysticism of the New Testament
§ V. ?• evidence of the Gospel history on that subject ^ " Christ is
found never without Water; since Himself also is baptized in
Water. It is by Water, at a marriage feast, that He makes what
may be called the first inaugural essay of His power. In His
discourse He invites the thirsty to that Water which is His, and
eternal. Teaching of charity, He selects among works of kindness
for special approbation, a cup of Water offered to a brother. It is
by a Well that He recruits His strength ; He walks on the Water,
as though of set purpose ; He [repeatedly] passes the Lake ; He
ministers Water to His disciples ; nay. His testimony concerning
baptism lasts even to His passion ; when He is surrendered to
crucifixion, Water comes in — witness the hands of Pilate ; when
He is wounded, Water bursts from His side — witness the spear
of the soldier."
(7.) To this head belong the many spiritual allusions, which the
ancient commentators seem to themselves to find, in the Names
of places and persons, throughout our Lord's history. The prin-
ciple on which they proceeded is laid down in a fragment of
St. Clement of Alexandria*. " When we are accurately searching
the Scriptures, since it is acknowledged that they are written in
parables, we ought by the names to trace out those notions of the
things, which were, so to speak, in the mind of the Holy Ghost,
and which He there teacheth, having stamped His own meaning
on the words."
And for this they seemed to find warrant, not only in the
speculations of Pythagoras, (whom Clement quotes in illustration
of his maxim,) and in the natural forebodings of mankind in
general, as expressed in a well-known and very noble stanza of
iEschylus'; but also still more in the history of the Old Testa-
ment, abounding as it does with names, both of persons and places,
» De Bapt. c. 9. » P. 998, Ed. Potter.
' Agam. 689, Ed. Butler, ri'c 7ro0' i)v6fiat,Ev iLS'
if TO irdv iTrjTVfllOQ,
jli) TIQ, OVTIV OVK opwUfV,
irpovoidai tov TrtTrpai^lvot;
yXHaffav iv TV^f vtfiuv ; k. r. X.
regarding the Xames of Persons and Places. il5
imposed (if one may so speak) sacramentally ; i. e. by way of § ^- ^■
token from tlie Most High of some future event, or hidden pur-
pose. It probably seemed to Origen and those who followed him,
but an extension of the same rule of interpretation, when they took
pains (e. g.) to ascertain the Hebrew meaning of the names of the
Baptist and his parents. " It may be profitable," he says ', •* as in
many cases the true force of names is worth knowing, so in this
place to consider the meaning of the names John and Zacharias :
for as though it were a matter of no small consequence, at the
time of naming him there was a providential interference." Then
he proceeds to explain the three names : " John, t. e. grace from
God, was born of Zacharias, i. e. the remembrance of God,
according to the oath of our God, which is denoted by the name
Elisabeth :" the three names together teaching that divine grace
is the result of God's covenant blessing man's pious endea-
vours.
(8.) This example relates to persons : it may be well to give
another which relates to the names of places. Origen had noticed
a various reading of the name Bethabara, where John was bap-
tizing ; some copies write Bethania or Bethany, but Origen shews
that this is geographically impossible, and follows up his argu-
ment, by remarking', " The interpretation of the name [Betha-
bara] suits the baptism of one who was making ready a people
prepared for the Lord ; for being translated it is, ' The House of
Preparation:' whereas Bethany means, ' The House of Obedience.'
For where else did it become him to baptize, who was sent as a
messenger to prepare Christ's way before Him, than in the
House of Preparation ? and what more suitable birthplace than
the House of Obedience, for Mary, who chose the good part
which could not be taken away from her ? for Martha, who was
cumbered about waiting on Jesus 1 and for their brother, who
was called Friend by the Saviour ? He therefore who wishes to
understand the Holy Writings without omission must not despise
minute attention to names."
Here, it will be perceived, he assumes his rule so entirely, as
* In Joan. torn. ii. 27- t. iv. p. 86. » In Joan. torn. vi. 24. t iv. 140. C.
I 2
116 Mystical Names of Places in St. Jerome.
§ V. 8. to think it of some consequence in settling the preference among
various readings of the name of a place. And so just after*,
among other reasons for reading Gergesa instead of Gerasa or
Gadara, as the scene of the miracle of the evil spirits and the
herd of swine: "The interpretation," he says, " of Gergesa is,
' the abode of those who did ca-t out ;' perhaps named, by a pro-
phetical instinct, from the way in which the Saviour was treated
by those who besought Him to depart out of their coasts."
The like interpretations abound in St. Jerome, an author
little likely to be biassed in their favour by the example of
Origen, but qualified for them as Origen was, by his knowledge
of the Hebrew, the want of which is probably the reason of
their occurring le.ss frequently, if ever, in Ambrose and Augus-
tin. One might specify in particular the elegant way in which
he has introduced more than one of them in the letter^ to
Eustochium, which contains the itinerary of herfmother Paula.
He represents Paula addressing Bethlehem as follows ^ : " Hail,
Bethlehem, the House of Bread, wherein was born that Bread
which Cometh down from heaven. Hail, Ephrata, region most
abundant, and fruitful, the fertility whereof is God Himself."
"Not 3 far from thence she went down to the tower of Ader,
i. e. the flock; near which Jacob fed his flock," and the shep-
herds watching by night were counted worthy to hear, ' Glory
to God in the highest.' Presently after, quickening her pace,
she began to travel along the old way which leads to Gaza, i. e.
to the power or riches of God ; when she thought of the Ethio-
pian eunuch." Again, on the passage of Jeremiah, " Behold *,
I will send fishers and hunters, who shall hunt you out of every
hill and mountain," he writes, " These are they whom the Lord
sends out to fishing, and from fishers in the sea causes them to
become fishers of men. Wlience also the village of Peter and
Andrew comes to be called by this name : for Bethsaida in our
tongue is interpreted the House of Hunters."
* P. 141. B. 2 Ep. 108. § 10 ; t. i. 698. C.
3 Ibid. 699. D ; 700. A.
* Comm. in Ezech. lib. ix. c. 28 j t. v. pars i. p. 339. D.
Mysticism sometimes alleged in the Acts and Epistles. 1 1 T
It will have been observed, that some of these instances of § v. 9.
allegorical names are taken not from our Lord's own history, but
from tliat of St. John the Baptist ; and it is certain that the
Fathers generally consider all that happened to him, at least
before our Lord's manifestation, as capable of and requiring
an allegorical exposition ; e. g. " the silence of Zacharias had a
symbolical meaning," says Clement ^, " awaiting that offspring,
which should be the forerunner of Christ ; that the light of
the truth, the word of the prophetic riddles, might become a
gospel, or voice of good tidings, and so free itself of the mystical
silence."
(9.) But when we come to the times after our Lord's
Ascension, it may appear that we no longer find the same
frequency, the same unhesitating freedom, of mystical ex-
position. Neither the Acts of the Apostles, nor the his-
torical notices in the Epistles, are treated by them with the
same constant allusion to mystical meanings, supposed to be
undoubtedly contained in them. Instances of the kind are cer-
tainly not wanting ; as where St. Augustin on the conversion of
St. Paul, reasons on the name Ananias, which he supposes to
mean a sheep' ; and where Origen descants in the following way
on St. Paul's recommendation "of a collection for the poor saints
in Jerusalem*. " Every one," says he, "who is spiritual, i. e.
who serves God in the Spirit, and lives not according to the
flesh, but according to the Spirit, he dwells in Jerusalem, i. e.
in the place of Peace, and abides in the Vision of Peace : and he
is one of the poor saints, t. e. one of those blessed poor, to whom
our Lord said, ' Blessed are the poor in spirit.' . , . Being such he
abides always in Jerusalem, possessing spiritual wealth. . . . On the
other hand, it seems to me that those whom he calls Gentiles
mean the less perfect souls, as standing in need of the instruc-
tion of the more perfect : and who, if so be they are accounted
worthy to Lecome partakers with them in spiritual understanding
and knowledjie, ought themselves to minister unto them in carnal
' S. Clem. Protrept. c. i. 10. » Serm. 279. 2. t. v. 788. E.
» In Epist. ad Rom. lib. x. 14 ; t. iv. p. 679. D.
118 Mysticism rare in the Acts and Epistles.
§ V. 9. things : and so, when their spirit begins to be imbued with some-
thing of loftier contemplation, the flesh also, taking on itself the
reins of continence and of chastity, ought to minister to the
spiritual precepts."
And even Chrysostom, who in general is very jealous of pro-
ducing allegorical meanings, has an intimation that he does not
consider them as out of place in this part of Scripture history.
For, speaking of the name Dorcas, as repeated in the verse,
"They showed the garments which Dorcas had made for them,"
he remarks \ " Not without significance is her name added in this
place, but with a view of giving us to understand that she an-
swered to her name, watchful and alert as the animal which it
signifies, the antelope. For no less than a special providence
goes to the assigning of many names, as I have often remarked
to you."
In spite, however, of scattered instances of this kind, it will
perhaps hold, as a general observation, that mystical exposition
is the exception, and not the rule, of the ancient commentators
on the Acts and Epistles ; whereas through all former parts of
the sacred history, it undoubtedly constituted the rule and not
the exception. If this be really so, it is remarkable in several
ways : and one thought which it obviously suggests is, that
it proves the Mysticism of the ancients, right or wrong, not
to have been practised at random, not to have been merely an
unthinking accommodation to the taste of the age, the school, or
the individual. In such case, it will be hard to assign a reason
why it should not have been applied to the fortunes of Christ's
people after His ascension, as largely as before His coming, or
as to the events of His own life. Were the whole a matter of
mere ingenuity, it will not surely be pretended, that the character
and adventures of St. Paul, (for instance) might not be as dex-
terously turned into allegory, whether of the prophetic or moral
kind, as those of David or St. John the Baptist. The abstinence
of the ancient writers in this respect indicates their proceeding on
some definite rule or principle, whether we can succeed in ascer-
taining the rule or no.
1 In Act. Apost. Hora. 21, t. iv. p. 732. 1. 33.
Double Ground of New Tettament Mysticism. 119
(10.) The several heads of New Testament Mysticism having § v. 10, 11.
thus been briefly noticed and exemplified, and appearing to be
frst, the affixing spiritual import to the detail of parables, and to
other imagery adopted by our Lord in His discourses ; secondly,
the application of the like process to the circumstances of His
history while on earth ; thirdly, to the names of persons and
places any how connected with that history ; fourthly, and much
more scantily, to the records of His Church after His departure;
we are in a condition to say something of the principles on which
the whole depended, and the authorities by which, when chal-
lenged, they were accustomed to vindicate it : and in the course of
the discussion it will perhaps sufficiently appear, what weight is
due to the difficulty mentioned in the outset, viz. that allegorizing
the New Testament at all is inconsistent with the idea of its
being, eminently, fi a\>/0£ta, the final dispensation — the substance
and not the shadow.
It may seem, then, ihat the mode of interpretation we are
considering arose chiefly from the deep sense which those who
used it entertained of two great truths, — fundamental truths — of
the Gospel : the Divinity of our Lord, and the Communion of
Saints.
(II.) First, did we really lay it to heart, as we read verse after
verse of the Gospels — did we in earnest put our minds to the
thought, — that this Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Mary, is indeed
the Most High God, Creator and Possessor of Heaven and Earth,
and of all things visible and invisible; did we realize our conviction
of this truth in connection with each and all of His actions and
discourses, and of the scenes and circumstances in which we find
Him engaged ; we should of course feel on all these subjects,
that which considerate persons feel in regard of all God's words
and works ; viz. that the least of them is far too deep for us ; the
most trivial of His commandments is exceeding broad ; the
slightest, to our conception, of His acts must have eternal and
infinite associations and consequences. The words then and
doings of our Blessed Saviour, being as they are the words and
doings of God, it cannot be but they must mean far more than
meets the ear, or the eye : they cannot but be full-charged with
120 Mystical meaning of Things associated
§ V. 12. heavenly and mysterious meaning, wlietherwe are as yet competent
to discern some part of that meaning or no ; and to look at them
in that light may be called Mysticism, but is it any more than the
natural and necessary result of considerate faith in His divine
nature ? Or can it be doubted, that so far as the Mysticism of
the old interpreters is traceable to this conviction, so far it not
only admits of justification, but the disuse of it is a fearful symp-
tom of irreverent forgetfulness at least of that vital doctrine ?
On grounds like these, we may perhaps be excused in think-
ing, whatever we may judge of the particular examples, that
the Fathers could not be wrong in the general principle, which
guided their comments in such instances as shall now be
. specified.
(12.) Knowing our Lord to be the Governor and Overruler of
all things, even the least, by His good providence, knowing from
His own lips that not a sparrow falls to the ground without Him:
they could not be wrong in noting those circumstances and ac-
companiments of His conduct, which in ordinary human lan-
guage would be called accidental, as being in fact divinely
ordered : worthy, from their nearness to Him, of being contem-
plated with peculiar awe, as forming part of the clouds and
darkness that He gathers round about Him : which if we can at
all penetrate by the help of other revelations, it is well ; if not,
at least we may adore in silence.
For example ; according to men's usual way of talking, it would
be called an accidental circumstance, that there were fve loaves,
not more nor less, in the store of our Lord and His disciples,
wherewith to provide the miraculous feast. But the ancient in-
terpreters treat it as designed and providential, in this surely
not erring : and their conjecture is, that it represents tlie sacri-
fice of the whole world of sense, and especially of the Old Dis-
pensation, which being outward and visible, might be called the
dispensation of the senses, to the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, to be a pledge and mean of communion with Him
according to the terms of the new or evangelical law. This idea
they arrive at by considering the number five, the number of the
senses, as the mystical exponent of the visible and sensible uni-
nith our Lord : The Five Loaves. 121
verse : rh ala^r)Ta, as distinguished from ret vorjra. Origen lays § v. 12.
down the rule in express terms. " The number Five frequently,
nay almost always, is taken for the five senses."
Accordingly St. Clement ^ speaking of the Tabernacle door,
which was hung on Jive pillars, says it was accounted by some a
token of the separation between the intellectual and sensible
worlds ; and he adds, " Thus, by a process full fraught with
mysterious meaning, Five loaves are broken and multiplied by
the Saviour, to the crowd of ordinary hearers ; for many one
there be who regard the things of sense as if there were really
nothing besides them."
Origen more plainly * : "By the five loaves they perhaps
might signify ihe outward and literal words of the Holy Scrip-
ture, literal and sensible, and therefore represented by the num-
ber of the five senses." Ambrose again^, " It may seem that
those five thousand, as though made up of the mere bodily
senses, which are five, received from Christ nourishment as yet
little more than bodily." And Augustin'': " To pass over this
subject rapidly ; the five loaves are understood to be the five
books of Moses, with reason not represented as of wheat, but
of barley, because they belong to the Old Testament. And
barley, as you know, is so formed, that you come with diflficulty
to the nourishing part of it, wrapped up as it is in a covering of
chaff", and that chaff" stiff" and cleaving, so as not to be stripped
off without some trouble. Such is the letter of the Old Testa-
ment, clothed with the wrappings of carnal sacraments, or
tokens ; but if you once come to its marrow, it nourishes and
satisfies. If we ask, who was the lad that bare the loaves, per-
haps it was the people of Israel ; with no more than childish
thought bearing them only, not tasting them." And elsewhere,
expessing himself in such a way as to connect his view obviously
with that of St. Clement*. " The five barley loaves, wherewith
the Lord fed the multitudes in the mountain, signify the old
Law ; either because it is given to persons not yet spiritual, but
' Strom. V. § 33. » In Matth. torn. xi. 2 ; t. iii. 477. B.
* In Luc. lib. vi. 80. * In Joan. tr. 24-5.
* De Div. Quest. 61 ; torn. vi. 24. F.
122 Mystical Meaning of our Lord's Journeys:
V. 13. still carnal, i. e. devoted to the five bodily senses ; or because
the Law was given by Moses, and the books written by Moses
are five."
It should still be recollected, that neither in this nor in other
like instances is the tone of the Fathers at all dogmatical. They
are positive only in one point, that there is a spiritual meaning,
could we but find it ' ; but of their own special exposition they
commonly speak as doubtfully as Origen on this very place,
whose language is ^ " Thus far have I been able to reach in con-
jecturing the sense of the five loaves and the two fishes. But
in all likelihood those who are better able to store themselves
with [the spiritual food meant by] those symbols will be able to
give a fuller account of these things."
It may be added, perhaps, in support of the exposition which
he thus modestly suggests, that it suits well with the nature of the
miracle, considered as an intimation of the future Eucharistical
sacrifice : in which light the subsequent discourse of our Lord
undoubtedly teaches us to consider it. For the offering of
bread and wine, to be received back again as the Lord's Body
and Blood, is in effect, as far as in each of us lies, the sacrifice
of all the things of sense, of our whole earthly being, to be made
heavenly by participation of Jesus Christ.
(13.) It is clear, again, referring to some examples given above,
that the names of the several places which our Lord chose wherein
to utter His discourses and work His miracles, will come under
the head which we are now considering — that of circumstances
which in ordinary history might be called insignificant, but in
this can hardly be less than providential. Our Lord's moving
from place to place, among the towns, mountains, and rivers ot
Israel, was the moving of the God and King of Israel, among
the places which He Himself had marked out, from all ages, to
be the scene of His mighty words and works, when He should
literally visit His people.
So also, applying the same remark to His discourses, the
1 Nihil vacuum, neque sine signo apud Deum. Iren. iv. 21 ; ed. Bened. It
«eems to liave been a sort of Christian Proverb.
' Orig. ubi supra.
and of the Imagery of His Parables. 123
imagery which He used, His references to natural objects, are to § v. 14.
be looked at with other and far higher feelings than those of mere
wonder and delight, such as ihe same words would cause, could
we imagine them proceeding from human lips. His mention
{e. g.) of the birds of the air, the lilies, the vine and its
branches, the wheat and tares, and whatever else occurs of the
like kind, are so many instances of the Creator applying to
moral or spiritual uses His own outward and visible works;
which works He had created, knowing in His Omniscience that
He should so apply them, and therefore (among their other final
causes) with the very purpose of doing so. And it is but car-
rying the same observation one step further, to say, that His not
unfrequent allusions to domestic processes also, and the simpler
modes of trade, and husbandry work, are in like manner allu-
sions to things which Himself had prepared by His providence,
no doubt with a view to such application.
The great use to be made of this will be seen by and by : at
present it may serve to mitigate the disapproving wonder, with
which some readers are apt to receive what may appear to them
the frigid and overstrained comments of the Fathers on the
figurative language of our Lord, and the details of His
parables.
(14.) For example, St. Clement' applies the Parable of Leaven
to illustrate the reserve which all know to have been one great
feature of the teaching of the early Church, "By it," he
says, " the Lord indicates the method of concealment." Then,
quoting the parable, he subjoins, " Either it is the preserva-
tion of the soul which our Lord here describes, — of the soul,
made up as it is of three parts, [memory, understanding, and
will] and preserved in the way of obedience by the spiritual
power hidden in it, according to the faith ; or else, [He speaks
thus] because the Power of the Word, given unto us, compressed
in a scanty space, but of great might, attracts to Itself secretly and
invisibly the whole of him who receives It and lays It up within
himself, and gathers the whole complex being of that man by
1 Strom. T. 81.
124 Mystical Meaning of our Lord's Conduct :
§ V. 15. degrees into perfect unity." St. Augustin', and St. Ambrose ^ in
effect give the sanne exposition ; all agreeing to annex a certain
mystical force to the three measures ; to the woman ; whom they
take to be the Church, or Wisdom ; to the hiding of the leaven :
and so in other parables ; those things which modern critics re-
gard as the mere scenery or dress of the narrative, they fear to
dispose of so easily, considering that He is speaking of them,
who caused them to be what they are, with all their relations,
similitudes, and association.
(15.) But if the Fathers considered as providential and mystical
the mere ornaments of our Lord's discourses, and the accompani-
ments of His proceedings on earth, much more would they
regard in the same view the substance of His conduct. His own
voluntary doings. It would never come into their mind to think
they knew the whole meaning and bearings of it, any more than to
imagine, as they looked upwards at night, that they saw through
the whole depth of the sky, because, gazing more intently than
others, more and more stars had become visible to them. They
seem to have contemplated the whole subject with that feeling of
infinity, which dictated St. John's concluding verse, " If the
things which Jesus did should be written every one, I suppose
that not even the world itself should be able to contain the books
which should be written." Akin to which is the saying of
Origen^ " That the Gospel of St. John can hardly be understood
but by one who should be like the writer of it, lying on the
bosom of our Lord, and declared to be the Son of Mary, i. e.
as it were another Jesus by communion with the true Jesus."
According to the depth of significance here attributed to the
least of our Lord's doings, we are to look at the minute de-
tails of His demeanour towards different persons. His modes of
dealing with them for their good, as so many exemplifications, —
so many visible types, — of His invisible dealings and dispensa-
tions towards the same class of persons always. If even " wise
men and scribes," parents, say, or teachers or masters, very often
use significant actions, expressing things far beyond any dream,
> Quaeit. Evang. i. 12; Serm. cxi. t. v. 392. * In Luc. vii. 187, &c.
' In Joan. i. 6.
Washing the Disciples' Feet : the Paschal Upper Room. 1 25
that those who witness them can possibly have of their meaning ; § v. 16.
shall it seem strange to be told, that we must regard all the
actions of Him, who is infinite wisdom and goodness, as so many
deep economies, answering, in all probability, purposes, of which
we can no more judge, than a child in arms can judge of the mean-
ing of the holy services, which he may chance at any time to
see performed in a Church."
(1 6.) But to produce first a few instances, in which it seemed to
the Fathers that we might in some measure interpret our Lord's
significant actions : — Origen ' has gone through great part of the
discourse with the woman of Samaria, as a specimen of the way
in which it pleases Him to deal with those who are not unbelievers
but heretics : Irenaeus expounds the washing the Disciples' feet
to be a token of Christ communicating an interest in His Passion
to all the Saints which had gone before, the whole Jewish and
patriarchal Church. Thus he speaks^, " In the last times, when
came the fulness of the time of liberty, the Word Himself by Him-
self cleansed away the filth of the daughter of Sion, washing with
His own hands the feet of His Disciples. For this [in which we
now are] is the end, [or last stage] of the human race entering on
its inheritance, even God : that as in the beginning we were all
brought into slavery by the debt of death [which we incurred],
so in tlie end, by Him who is the Last, all who from the begin-
ning had been Disciples, being cleansed and washed from the
things of death, might enter into the life of God. For He who
washed the feet of his Disciples, sanctified the whole body, and
brought it into a state of pureness. Which is the reason also why
He ministered food to them as they reclined, signifying those
who were reclining in the earth, to whom He came to minister
life."
Origen, and after him Ambrose*, assign a parabolical drift to
the directions given by our Lord about preparing the Passover.
"*No one, keeping the Passover according to the will of Jesus, is
below the upper room ; but whosoever feasts with Him, is on high,
in a large upper room, in an upper room swept, in an upper
' In Joan. xiii. t. iv. 212, &c. » iv. 39.
* In S. Luc. X. 47. * In Jerem. Horn, xviii 13. t. iii. 256. C.
126 Two Senses of The Word, a Source of Mysticism.
§ V. 17. room garnished and prepared : and if thou go up with Him to
celebrate the Passover, He gives to thee no less a gift than the
Bread of blessing, His own Body, and vouchsafes to thee His
own Blood. Wherefore I beseech you, go up on high, lift up
your eyes on high. And to me too, when I am engaged in
teaching the Divine word, the Scripture says, ' Go up to the
high mountain, thou who tellest good tidings toZion.' " And St.
Ambrose ' takes occasion from the command about the pitcher of
water, to descant in honour of holy Baptism, carried away, as the
Fathers use to be on that subject, perhaps above all others.
(17.) It may be worth considering, whether the view in illustra-
tion of which these last examples have been offered, does not tend
in some sort to explain and justify the practice which I have fre-
quently mentioned, as not unusual with Origen and Clement,
and with others who followed them, of adding to the prophetical
or evangelical exposition of historical passages, what may be
called a moral exposition also : of which an example has already
been adduced from Origen, speaking of our Lord's entry into
Jerusalem ; and the following may serve in further illustration of
it'. " The Lord in the Gospel affirms, concerning that woman
who poured on His head the box of precious ointment, ' She hath
wrought a good work on Me ;' intimating that he who pours oint-
ment on the Word of God, i. e. who joins actual obedience with
that Word, that man worketh a good work. For the Word
adorned with obedience and right actions is rendered, as it were,
fragrant, filled with all sweetness of precious ointments." Here
would seem at first sight a confusion between the two senses
of " THE Word," standing sometimes for the Scriptures, some-
times for the Person of our Lord. But the difficulty will per-
haps vanish, on considering that the Word written or spoken was
regarded by Origen as one only among many forms, in which the
personal Word vouchsafes to communicate Himself to His ser-
vants. The things then which befel our Lord '* visibly and
personally " might well be taken as symbolical of the mode, in
which His inward and invisible presence acts on, and is received
by, the hearts of His servants ; as Origen himself gives us to
> In Luc. lib. ix. 48. ' In Rom. ii. 6. t iv. 480. B.
The Economy, perhaps regarding Jngels, a source of My stkisvi. 127
understand, explaining the declaration of St. John the Baptist*, § '• ^^•
" There standeth one among you whom ye know not," of " the
presence of our Lord's most high Nature in all reasonable souls,
reaching through the whole world ." Comments, accordingly,
in the Alexandrian and other Fathers, vhich at first sight might
appear like mere metaphysical disquisitions, about the supremacy
and operations of reason, may be understood of Christ, and the
operations of His grace ; only recollecting that the ancients in
their piety rscribed all sound reason to the Word, or Wisdom, of
the Fatlier, enlightening the soul.
(18.) The Divinity then of our Lord, and His relation to man-
kind, would cause us to feel sure that all His words and doings
must be so far mystical, as tliat they mean more, infinitely more,
than meets the eye and ear of the mere human observer. But His
Incarnation and Economy, of which His words and actions are part,
may have had other objects, relative to other races and other states
of being. Who knows but any given work or discourse of His
may have reference to some of these, and we may have, conse-
quently, to wait for its full explanation until (if ever) our eyes be
opened to behold them in another world ? Certainly there are
obscure hints in Scripture, there is a partial, a very partial, dis-
closure, of some change in heaven as well as on earth, to be
wrought by the Incarnation of the Son of God. " The princi-
palities and powers in heavenly places," it is intimated, have
some deep though undefined interest in that unspeakable Work
of God, which is our sanctification and salvation. Such hints
unquestionably the New Testament contains : and it was the part
of watchful piety, such as that of the Fathers, to notice and store
'hem up : and what more natural, than that they should some-
times remember them, when engaged in the obscurer portions of
the Gospel history, and should say within themselves, What if such
and such a saying of our Lord, such and such a circumstance of
His behaviour, evidently too profound for us, should belong to
Him as the Lord of Angels rather than of men, — should allude to
His government of heaven rather than of earth?
By this train of thought, they would evidently open to them-
> In Joan. t. ii. 29. torn. iv. 89. D.
128 Mystical Allusions to Angels in the Gospels.
§ ^' 19. selves a new source of (what is called) Mysticism : the principle
of which can hardly be denied, however unsoundly or pre-
sumptuously the details may have been managed. One or two
examples shall be produced from Origen, the writer on whose
mind these thoughts appear to have made most impression.
He ^ applies the proplietic saying of our Lord, " Other sheep I
have, which are not of this fold," in part to the ministering angels,
who "look forward," he says, " with the rest of the Creation, to the
revelation of the Sons of God, for whom they are commissioned
to minister (being so far," as he expounds it, " ' made subject unto
vanity ') that they with the objects of their ministration may-
receive the inheritance of salvation, that of earthly and heavenly
things there may be one fold and one shepherd." It may be
remarked, by the way, that this comment on the place in the
Romans, right or wrong, is not Origen's own. It occurs, as we
have seen, in Clement's exposition of the parable of the good
Samaritan. " " Christ has commanded the authorities and
powers to minister to us for a great reward, viz. that themselves
may be delivered from the bondage of corruption." Again,
Origen^ considers the case of the fallen Angels to be very pro-
bably part of our Lord's meaning, in that very awful Proverb,
" There are first which shall be last, and there are last which
shall be first." And every where he is full of the presence of
the elect Angels, and delights in contemplating our invisible
communion with them ; not always perhaps judiciously, yet surely
on the whole more wisely and scripturally, than they who banish
the doctrine out of their thoughts, as though it were either a
mere figure of speech, or an economy long laid aside, and to us
mere matter of history.
(19.) So much for that portion of the New Testament Mys-
ticism, which seems to arise from the constant remembrance of the
Omniscience of Jesus Christ, and His Supreme Dominion over
things visible and invisible. Another large class of similar
instances will be found, derived from another fundamental truth,
viz. the Communion of Saints. By the Communion of Saints,
» In Ep. ad Rom. lib. vii. 4. t. iv. 597, 598.
* De Div. Servand. 29. ^ In Matt. x\\ 27. t. iii. C92.
The Communion of Saints, a great Source of Mysticism. 129
is here meant the real, but mysterious and supernatural union of § v. 20.
Jesus Christ with His Body the Church, and with every mem-
ber of that Body : by virtue of which, the actions and sufferings
of the Head may be predicated of the Body, and conversely those
of the Body, of the Head : Israel may stand for Christ, and
Christ for Israel; the one, e. g. where Moses is said to have
" esteemed the reproach of Christ," i. e. of God's Church and
people, which is in Christ's account one with Him, " more than
the treasures of Egypt :" the other, where Hosea, combining in
one expression the past and the future, says, " When Israel was
a child, then I loved him, and called My Son out of Egypt."
Again, David is a type of our Lord, and through Him of the
Church which is His Body, and through that again of each indi-
vidual Christian as being a member of that Body : and therefore
the Psalms generally are adopted by the whole Church in her
assemblies, and by separate believers in their closets, with equal
propriety, as the language of their devotions : they are an inspired
Liturgy, provided for all ages and all lands.
As, therefore, the Divinity of our Lord even forces a considerate
person to regard His demeanour towards those who came near
Him in the body, as indicative of His ways of grace and trial
towards us, with whom He is invisibly present : so the unity
between Him and His Church would lead us to inquire, from
time to time, whether things which we find happening to Him
may not be prophetic tokens of the future fortunes of the Church ;
as well as His conduct a lesson to her, how to bear herself in her
conflicts with the world.
(20.) But here the nature of the case would enforce an important
distinction between the allegory of the Old Testament and that
of the New ; i. e. so far as both are prophetic. In the Old Tes-
tament the leading idea is, that the Church, whether diffusive, or
embodied in her anointed members, king, priest, or prophet, is
every where the type of Christ; in the New, that Christ con-
versely is the type of the Church. " They from Sheba shall
come, they shall bring gold and incense :" — doubtless the immedi-
ate aspect of this prophecy is towards the wise men's offering at
Bethlehem; but that offering was itself prophetical of the kings
VOL. VI. — 89. K
ISO Christ and the Church stand for each other :
§ V. 20. of the earth coming in, and laying their glories at the feet of the
Cliurcli, as the representative of Christ on earth. Again, " He
shall bruise them with a rod of iron, and break them in pieces
like a potter's vessel " — is transferred in the Acts from David to
Christ, and in the Revelation from Christ to the Church. Our
Lord being in this sense also both Alpha and Omega, the end of
the ancient types and the beginning of a new series. In Him
all that happened before was, as it were, brought to a point; and
all again that should come after, was but so many developments
of what He said, did, and suffered among us.
But it can scarce be necessary to dwell much on this part of the
subject, since Christians in general appear to feel that each greater
event of our Lord's abode on earth. His Passion, for example,
in all its circumstances, was prophetic of the treatment which the
Church, His Body, miglit expect, and at the same time symboli-
cal of the inward process, whereby each one of His members
should be trained and purified. The very expression, " taking
up the Cross," seems to imply as much as this.
But if so, surely there is something to be said for the introduc-
tion of the same idea in other passages also of our Saviour's
life, and in explanation of other sayings of His. For example,
the;-e is a very ancient gloss on the saying, " Foxes have holes, and
birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to
lay His head." ** In this," says Clement of Alexandria^ " I sup-
pose there is an allusive meaning ; viz. that with him only who
believes, and is perfectly separated from all those who in Scrip-
ture are described as wild beasts, does a resting place use to be
found for the Head of all beings, the gracious and gentle Word ;"
as if our Lord's literal want of a home, when He was here in the
body, betokened the scarcity, which should ever be found on
earth, of souls apt to receive and lodge Him worthily. Foxes
would always find their dens, and birds of the air their nests :
crafty and soaring thoughts would always find hearts enough
ready to entertain them : not so the frank and open, the meek
and lowly, Spirit of Christ.
» Strom, i. 23.
Scripture justifies the Fathers m this. 131
Such is St. Augustin's explanation ' (amongst others) ; and it § v. 21.
appears to be so far warranted, as that it is only an additional
application of the same principle, whicli teaches us, with St.
Cyprian^ to consider Christ's coat without seam as a token of
the unity of His Church, which her enemies, doing their worst,
should be unable to rend: or with Clement \ to look on His
baptism as a token and type of ours. " Tiie Lord," he affirms,
" is consecrated by the bath alone, and sanctified by the descent
of the Holy Ghost. So it is ; and the same thing happens in
us also, of whom the Lord is the type : by baptism we are
enlightened, by enlightening we are adopted, by adoption we are
consecrated [or perfected], by consecration [or perfecting] we are
immortalized." St. Paul's language to the Romans and Colos-
sians, implying Christ's death and resurrection to be, sacramen-
tally and virtually, that of each baptized person, is too well known
to be more than just alluded to. And there is imagery in the Re-
velati'ons, in the vision of the Two Witnesses, which may justify
us in surmising that the same awful events may in some sense
find their counterpart in the history of the Church on earth.
Whoever will consider and follow out these and similar hints,
will see reason, perhaps, to excuse many things, which a hasty
reader of the Fathers would call over-bold and fanciful : he will
understand how Origen might affirm *, that there are in fact as
many different manifestations of the Word, as many different
Christs, as there are believers : and again, that those who rest
content with the mere outward meaning of the Gos])el history,
not recollecting as they go on, that in this same Jesus they live,
and move, and have their spiritual being — that He is one with
them, and they with Him — they are in the same kind of error as
the Judaizers, who could not find Him in the Old Testament.
(21.) So far then as the mystical interpretation of the Gospels
depends on the Communion of Saints, it would appear to be
amply authorized by the Scripture itself: neither need we be lonrr
to seek for similar authority in behalf of that branch of it, which
' Quast. in Matth. v. t. Hi. pars 2, p. 201. C. ; in Ps. 90. Serm. 2. § 7, t. v.
73.^ E. 2 De Unit. Eccl. t. i. 110. Ed. Fell.
» Pfiedag. i. 26. * In Joan. vi. 3, t. iv. 108. C.
K 2
132 Scriptural Indications of Allegory in the Gospels :
V. 22. has been already exemplified : that, namely, which results from
the constant endeavour to realize, as we read, our Lord's high
and transcendent Nature. As to His Parables, it is certain
that in those which He has condescended to explain, in that of
the Tares for example, every circumstance almost is made to
tell ; so far from the attention being limited, as many modern
interpreters would limit it, to the general result and moral only.
Many of His actions are ascertained to be symbolical, in the way
of prophecy, or moral, or both : some by their correspondence with
direct Parables; as the cursing of the fig-tree, which agrees re-
markably with the Parable of the barren fig-tree; the multiplying
the loaves and fishes, illustrated by the subsequent discourse on
the Bread from Heaven ; and the miraculous draught of fishes,
explained by the Parable of the net. Other actions, or circum-
stances of actions, have their figurative nature indicated by the use
of some symbol, which God's providence has made appropriate,
(otKelo)', as the rhetoricians call it,) to some particular subject ; as
the change of water into wine, where the appropriation was made
known afterwards by the institution of the Holy Eucharist. In
other cases, as the choice of the ass and colt for the entry into
Jerusalem, above considered, the terms of ancient Prophecy were
a key to the mystery of the action. As to the miracles of our
Lord's mercy, healing, cleansing, enlightening, reviving, — there
were sufficient hints given by Himself, in the conversations which
followed upon some of them, how He would have them inter-
preted : as wlien He remarked on the case of the man who had
been blind from his birth, " For judgment I am come into this
world, that they which see not might see, and that they which
see might be made blind :" and in the Parable of the relapsed
daemoniac.
(22.) The above considerations may perhaps put us in a condi-
tion to account in some measure for the comparative absence of
Mysticism in the comments of Antiquity on the Acts and Epistles.
Those, with whose words and actions those later Christian Scrip-
tures are conversant, were actually in the Kingdom of Heaven :
they were arrived at that final condition, — final as regards this
world, — to which all former types and shadows had pointed, and in
Why it is rarer in the Acts and Epistles. 133
which, visibly or invi^^bly, they were now to be realized. They ^ ^ 23.
were not themselves, as far as we know, types and shadows of
any thing further. Their condition indeed was full of mystery, of
high, spiritual, invisible relations and associations : and so is our
own condition, for theirs and ours are in substance one. But
scantily and seldom, if at all, is any portion of the veil with-
drawn, so as to justify the same kind of comment on the hidden
bearings of the Apostles' history, or of that of any subsequent
generation of believers, which God Himself had taught us to
venture on, in all preceding Scriptures. With the exception of
those sacramental actions, which being performed according to
His command, are to be regarded as purely and indeed His
actions, there are now no visible doings of Christ on earth :
none, that is, visibly distinct from the doings of men ; none there-
fore to which we are warranted in specially affixing a mystical cha-
racter, as being both the doings of Gon, and of Him who is one
with the Church and with each of us. "Christ is the end of the
Law for righteousness to every man that believeth ;" that verse
being once for all realized, the vision and prophecy is of course
sealed up ; for there can be nothing beyond the end.
(23.) On the whole, tliere seems no want of scriptural authority
for the allegory as applied by the Fathers to the New Testament,
considered both in what in includes, and in what it omits. Most
modern interpreters even, and almost all devotional writers,
recognise it in principle, some perhaps more or less uncon-
sciously : but the great difference between them and the Ancients
seems to lie rather in this ; that the Ancients fear not to carry it
out, in every part of the Gospels, and as far as it will go in
every case ; whereas we, in modern times, each draw his own
arbitrary line, accolnding to our own taste, or our notions of what
is useful or convincing, or out of deference to the judgments we
expect from others.
And some perhaps may say, ** After all, where is the great
harm of this? the other may certainly be more legitimate and
consistent in reasoning ; but practically, is it not safer, is it not
even more religious and reverent, to abide by the letter, instead
of perplexing yourself with expositions of which you cannot be
quite sure ?" This, perhaps, is a thought not unlikely to be enter-
134 Danger of rejecting the Mystical Sense;
§ V. 24, tainedby many minds. But let us be aware which way it leads : —
to what, in reality, it amounts. Discarding high avsociations
from our interpretations of Scripture, under the notion that a
plain man may do well enough without ti'.em, appears rather
like discarding high doctrines from our creed, as if they were
only fit for professed theologians. It may be, that the one does not
always lead to the other, but they may be symptomatic of the
same unhealthy frame of thought : and is it not generally found,
in fact, that the two more or less accompany each other, both in
schools of divinity and in the fluctuation of individual minds?
Wlutby's intense scorn of the ancient allegories was a step to
the Arianism in which he finally acquiesced: and we know too
well the region of doctrine towards which the merely critical and
historical discussions of the last century were continually gravi-
tating. Surely these are things worth the consideration of those,
who shrink not only from promulgating, but even from fairly
examining, the old principles of Biblical exposition, for fear of
giving too much play to the imagination, or some such kind of
irreverence. Are they not unconsciously behaving like Ahaz,
who, when God Himself offered hitn a sign, refused to ask,
under the pretence or notion, that to do so would be tempting
the Lord ?
(24.) It is most true, there is a great danger in the mystical con-
templation of the Scriptures, more especially of the Gospels, by
how much the Word of Life is there brought nearer to us, to be
not only heard of, but also to be seen with our eyes, to be looked
upon and handled with our hands. There is a great, an un-
speakable danger, if our practice be not conformable. But this
danger is not peculiar to the process of spiritual interpretation ;
it belongs equally to all ways of communicating the secrets of
the Kingdom of Heaven ; to the Creeds and Prayers of the
Church ; to the Catechisms which all children learn. And the
remedy for it is not, in this or any other instance, to hide our
eyes indolently from tiie light, which we know shines round us,
but to strengthen them gradually, that they may be able to bear
it ; and tliis can only be done by moral means ; i. e. by repen-
tance, devotion, and self-denial. As we train ourselves, so also,
according to our means, should we endeavour to prepare others,
or of approaching it unworthily. 135
for the right study of the Bible. He who looks no deeper than § v. 25.
the letter, may simply recommend candour, and patient investi-
gation, and freedom from sensual and other disturbing thoughts :
but he who knows beforehand, that the Personal Word is every
where in the written Word, could we but discern Him, will feel
it an awful thing to open his Bible ; fasting, and prayer, and
scrupulous self-denial, and all the ways by which the flesh is
tamed to the Spirit, will seem to him no more than natural, when
he is to sanctify himself, and draw near, with Moses, to the
darkness where God is. And this so much the more, the more
that darkness is mingled with evangelical light ; for so much the
more he may hope to see of God ; and we know Who it is, that
has inseparably connected seeing God with purity of heart.
As therefore God's people are continually to be told, concern-
ing the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist, that it is infinitely
dangerous to come near it unwortiiily, but they are not therefore
to leave it out of their minds, but rather to think of it night and
day, that they may prepare themselves, and come as God would
have them : so is it uiih this mystical presence of Jesus Christ
in every part of the Scriptures. We are not to shrink from the
thought of it for fear of irreverence, but bearing it continually in
mind, we are to train ourselves so, that we may have grace to
discern it, according to our measure, in particulars. This train-
ing is no matter of intellectual acuteness, industry, and memory :
they will only mislead into some wrong kind of Mysticism, if sepa-
rated from a single mind, and a heart full of reverence : but he that
is willing indeed to do His will, he shall know Trtpt r?7c lda^i)Q,
" concerning the manner of teaching," as well as the substance,
" whether it be of God." Common sense surely will add, that
one necessary sign of this willing reverence of heart, will be our
religiously walking by the clue, which the ancient Church has
given us, wherever we can keep satisfactory hold of it ; never
daring to contradict the unanimous voice of the Fathers,
still less to treat with scorn and mockery the serious opinion,
though it be but of one among them.
(25.) On the other hand, no ignorance, not even inability to read,
disqualifies men from thus receiving our Lord in His Scriptures.
136 Mystical Allusions adapted to simple Minds.
§ V. 25. It does not hinder them from seeing God's hand in His natural
Providence, in His care of their own and others' welfare : why
should it make them incapable of perceiving His supernatural
Providence, (if one may so call it) — the presence of His Christ, —
in all those works of His, the record of which they hear from
time to time in Church, or at home out of their Bibles ? Such
perception of our Lord's presence, through the veil of the letter,
is in fact the religious improvement of the fondness for type
and parable, natural to all, but often most developed in those
who have least means of acquiring literal instruction. From
which it would seem, that we need not fear to inure even poor
unlearned persons, having the fear of God, and leading good
lives, with the ancient mode of exposition. Humanly speaking,
their habits of thought make them for the most part apter to
receive it, than persons of greater learning and refinement.
But whether to wise or simple, to learned or unlearned, the
great and certain advantage of this method, (over and above its
positive truth) is this : tliat it tends so directly in every part and
parcel of the Scriptures, to keep up the conviction that God in
Christ is there, ready to reveal Himself to us with a blessing,
if we seek Him religiously and worthily. This conviction, con-
tinually realized and acted on, will prove to be of unspeakable
value, though we never were conscious of a single discovery, a
single new interpretation, in the ordinary sense of that term.
Such faithful self denying labour will be worth a double *' hidden
treasure " to us, bringing us secretly into closer Communion with
Him, in whom are now hidden, one day to be revealed, ^* all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
These remarks may suffice, on the manner of the Fathers as
Mystical Interpreters of the Bible. We shall next have to con-
sider them as Mystical Observers of natural and providential
things, and of the visible world around us : a kindred subject, as
a little inquiry will show.
Ancient and Modern Notions on Physical Knowledge. 137
§ vi. — Mysticism as applied to the Works of Nature, and gene-
rally to the external World.
Whatever judgment persons may be inclined to form of the § '•• !•
early Christian interpretations in themselves, it is clear and cer-
tain matter of fact, and surely well worthy of remark, that on all
the great divisions cff human knowledge the Fathers had, as a
school, views of their own. Whether it was history of which they
were speaking, or the arts of life, or morals public or private,
their measures of things, and the tone they preserved, were widely
different from all that had gone before them : hardly more so,
however, (it is a startling but true confession,) than they differ
from the principles and manner adopted in other ages, espe-
cially perhaps in our own, by Christian writers on the same
subjects.
But of all branches of human knowledge there is none in
which this difference is more strongly marked, than in what
relates to the study of nature, and the laws and aspects of the
external world. We know how very large a part of modern
literature and education, nay, and of modern theology too, is
occupied by instruction and research on physical subjects, and
in what a tone of self-complacency men praise their times and
one another, for the great and rapidly increasing proficiency of
the two or three last generations in their knowledge and com-
mand of the powers of nature. But when we turn to the first
ages of Christian literature, the very first sentiment which strikes
us is, the care taken every where to exclude views merely scientific
and physical, — to prevent our acquiescing in that kind of know-
ledge, as though in itself it were any great thing. Hear, e. g, the
tone in which St. Augustin explains what aMention is due from
a Christian to that, which of all physical sciences we are taught
sometimes to account the most elevating, — to astronomy.
" The knowledge," he says ', " of the rising and setting, and
other motions of the stars, though it bind men by no superstition,
> De Doctr. Christ, ii. 46.
138 St. Augustin on the Value of Astronomy :
vi. 2. yet is of little or rather no avail for the explanation of Holy
Scripture, but is rather an impediment, by diverting attention
unprofitably : and inasmuch as it is closely connected with the
most deadly error of the chanters of silly predictions, it is better
and more creditable to let it pass." Some might perhaps imagine
that in this passage St. Augustin was ignorantly confounding
astronomical with astrological science. But the next sentences
contradict the suspicion. " It is true," he adds, " that besides
the observation of existing phenomena, astronomical science con-
tains in it something of the nature of history, inasmuch as from
the present positions and motions of the heavenly bodies we maj',
according to certain rules, retrace their movements in times past.
Again, it hath certain rules for judging of things future; not
in the way of mere conjecture and omen, but fixed and settled
rules ; not such as to authorize our concluding aught from them
concerning our own conduct and fortunes, which is the madness
of those who calculate nativities — but facts appertaining to the
heavenly bodies themselves. For as the computers of the lunar
motions, observing how old the moon is to-day, are able to assign
its age at any distance of years forward and backward, so con-
cerning any heavenly body whatever, scientific reckoners are
wont to give determinate answers."
It was not then from inadequate conceptions of the true pro-
vince and evidenca of astronomy, that St. Augustin assigned to
it so low a place in the pursuits of a Christian student ; but it
was clearly from a perception that such knowledge was but very
remotely connected with the proper duty and happiness of man-
kind. And St. Augustin was no unlearned man, nor at all apt to
set himself fanatically against the use of human knowledge in the
interpretation of Divine Truth.
(2.) But in truth he was here only expressing the constant
sentiment of the Church, such as we find it laid down in the
first and second ages, almost in the form and with the authority
of an apostolical canon. " It is better," says Irenaeus \ " to know
nothing at all, no, not so much as one single cause of any of the
> ii. 45.
St. Iren^eus on abstruse Physical Questions. 1S9
things which are made, but to believe in God, and to persevere , § vi. 2.
in love, than to be puffed up with that sort of knowledge, and
fall from love, which gives life to man. It is better to seek
nothing in the way of knowledi.'e but Jesus Christ the Son of
Go0, who was crucified for us, than to fall into impiety through
subtle questions and minute verbal discussions. Suppose, e. g.
that any one, more or less elated with efforts of this kind, should
take occasion from our Lord's saying, ' The very hairs of your
head are all numbered,' to make curious inquiry, and search out
both the number of hairs in each person's head, and the cause
why one has so many, and another so many .... and so per-
sons fancying they had discovered the right number, should
endeavour to give it a meaning in reference to the teaching which
they had devised for their own sect : or again, suppose that any
one, upon the saying in the Gospel, ' Are not two sparrows sold
for a farthing, and not one of them can fall to the earth without
the will of your Father,' should take upon him to enumerate
the sparrows which are daily taken in this place and that, and in
all places, and make out the reason why so many were caught
yesterday, so many the day before, and again so many to-day ;
and connect the said number of sparrows with his own argument:
doth not such an one altogether deceive himself, and are not those
who agree with him forced along with him into great impiety ?
Men being always forward in such speculations, that they may
obtain the credit of having made out each something more than
his master.
"Again, suppose a man should ask us, ' Doth not God know the
whole number of all things which have been and are being made?
Did not each of these numbers receive by His providence the
amount which was suitable to it?' we of course should assent,
and allow that nothing ever did or doth come into being without
the knowledge of God ; that by His providence is assigned to
each of them its proper kind, place, number and quantity ; that
nothing at all ever was or is made vainly or at random, but with
great fitness and a lofty kind of harmony. Whereupon it would
follow, that there was something admirable and truly divine in
that method, which should be able both to discover and express
140 Final Causes not enough to secure Science from Abuse.
§ vi. 3. the said numbers with their proper causes. Suppose liim then,
on receiving from us such allowance and consent, to proceed to
enumeration of the sand and pebbles of the earth, yea, also of
the waves of the sea, and the stars of heaven, and to invent
causes for the number whicli he fancied himself to have found ;
would not his labour be justly judged vain by all considerate
persons, and he himself bereft of all sense and reason? And by
how much he employs himself more than others in inquiries of
that kind, and the higher opinion he has of his own peculiar
inventions, calling others ignorant, and ordinary, and carnal ; so
much the rather is he to be judged senseless and stupid, like a
planet-struck person, making himself equal with God. Yea, by
the knowledge which he fancies himself to have attained, he sur-
passes God Himself, and aims his speculations higher than the
very greatness of His Maker."
It is plain that the author of this impressive warning did not
only fear the fanciful application of natural science to the things
of God, but also the tendency which it has in itself to make men
overweening and irreligious. It is plain also that he did not
consider this evil tendency sufficiently disproved by that constant
reference to the final causes of things, on wliich many now seem
apt to rely, as taking out the sting of physical studies entirely.
His painful intercourse with heresy had taught him, that the
fancy of possessing rare insight into the purposes of the Author
of Nature is almost as great a snare, as the habit of contemplating
nature without reference to any Author. The very attempt to
know all — the very dreaming of such a thing — he felt was im-
piety; a deep sense of our necessary ignorance, and an humble
acquiescence in it, the only safeguard of the inquisitive ingenious
mind.
(3.) Accordingly, those ancient writers, who have dwelt most
on the wisdom of God in the creation — such as St. Basil, in his
Hexaemeron, and St. Ambrose, his imitator, one might almost
say, his translator — have not thought it enough for piety, to urge
every where the final causes of things, as disclosed by natural
philosophy and history, but have also, again and again, admo-
nished their readers, that no laws of nature will account for every
Si. Ambrose and St. Bastion God's Presence in Creation. 141
thing, that the wisest must soon come to a point, where he must § vi. 3.
stand still, and say, •* Thus far I seem to trace things, but I can
go no farther; I can but make acknowledgment with those
Egyptian philosophers, * This is tl.e finger of God.' "
Thus St. Ambrose, being about to enter on the detail of Crea-
tion in the second day's work, prefaces his remarks with a solemn
caution S "not to weigh what should be said by the traditions of
philosophy, and its empty deceit, nor to gather up persuasive pro-
babilities ; but to choose for their standard the rule of truth as
expressed in the oracles of the Divine word, and poured into the
bosom of the faithful by the contemplation of so high majesty :
since it is written, ' Establish me in Thy words. The ungodly
have propounded unto me discourses — hiriyiitravro aloXta^iaQ —
but not after Tliy law. All Thy commandments are truth.'
" It is not, therefore, by the nature of the elements, but by the
nature of Christ, who hath done all according to His will, abound-
ing in the fulness of His Godhead, that we are to order our
thoughts of what was made, and our inquiries into that which
nature could bring about. Even as in the Gospel, when He was
curing the leprous, and pouring light anew on the eyes of the blind,
the people present and beholding His works acknowledged not
any course of medical cure, but, in admiration of the Lord's
power, gave, as it is written, glory to God. Nor was it on cal-
culation of the numbers of the Egyptians, the combinations of the
heavenly bodies, the proportions of the elements, that Moses
stretched forth his hand to the division of the Red Sea, but in
simple obedience to the commandment of God's power. Whence
also he saith himself, ' Thy right hand, O Lord, hath waxed
glorious in power : Thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in
pieces the enemy.'
" That way, therefore," concludes St. Ambrose, " that way do
ye lift up your minds, ye who form this holy congregation ; and
turn your whole spirit in that direction, God seeth not as man
seeth : God looketh on the heart, man on the outward appear-
ance. By the same rule, neither doth man see as God doth.
' Hexaem. ii. 3.
142 St. Ambrose s Mode of meeting physical Objections.
( vi. 3, Thou hearest, that God saw, and approved : far be it then from
thee to judge by thine eyes of the tilings wliich He made, or by
thine own thoughts to argue concerning them ; rather, wliar God
saw, and approved, see that thou account not those things matter
of free discussion."
Tiiis by way of general caution. Afterwards, in a question
about the conflux of the waters on the third day, he gives a spe-
cimen of the mode in which ancient piety would silence physical
objections. He supposes a mere physiologist objecting to the
literal truth of the Mosaical statement, that, according to the
nature of water, it must have found its level before ; it could not
need the special divine command. St. Ambrose's answer is,
virtually', " How do you know, that before God gave the com-
mand it was the nature of the waters so to glide or flow ? For tliis
is a quality which they have of their own, not after the manner
of the other elements, but special and peculiar ; not by any cer-
tain order of causes, but by the direct will ratlier, and operation
of the Most High God. What He commanded, they hear. Now
the Voice of God is that which gives being to nature. The actual
operation of things was, and is, but the fulfilment of that Word.
Presently water begins to flow, and to pour itself into one assem-
blage, having hitherto been diffused over the earth, and keeping
its place in many different receptacles. I read nothing of its
course before ; of its motion, before, I learn nothing ; mine eye
hath not seen, nor mine ear heard. The water was stationary in
divers places ; at the Voice of God it was put in motion. Doth
it not appear that its nature was communicated to it by the afore-
said Voice of God ? His creature followed His commandment,
and turned His law into an usage. Thus the law of His first
establishment of things bequeathed them a form to all future time.
To conclude : He made day and night once for all: from that
moment continues the alternation and renewal of each of them,
throughout so long a time. Even so was the water commanded
to run into one assemblage, and from thenceforth it does so
run."
» Lib. iii. 8, t. i. 41.
Poetical, Moral, Mystical Uses of Nature. 143
This principle obviously applies no less to all the great simple § vi. 4.
facts in nature : it is the principle of natural piety, " things are
such, because God made and keeps them such :" the most skilful
analyst, the most dextrous combiner of machinery, must come to
this at last : and if he would but be content to refer to it, and
realize his dependence on it, throughout, he would go far towards
securing himself from the peculiar dangers of his line of study \
(4.) But the one great and effectual safeguard against such idol-
izing of the material world, or rather of our own minds acting
upon it, is the habit of considering it in that other point of view, to
which Christian Antiquity would guide us, as earnestly as it would
withdraw us from the speculations of the mere natural philo-
sopher. I mean the way of regarding external things, either as
fraught with imaginative associations, or as parabolical lessons of
conduct, or as a symbolical language in whioh God speaks to us
of a world out of sight : which three might, perhaps, be not quite
inaptly entitled, the Poetical, the Moral, and the Mystical, phases
or aspects of this visible world.
Of these, the Poetical comes first in order, as the natural
groundwork or rudiment of the other two. This is indicated by
all languages, and by the conversation of uneducated persons in
all countries. There is every where a tendency to make the
things we see represent the things we do not see, to invent or
remark mutual associations between them, to call the one sort
by the names of the other.
The second, the Moral use of the material world, is the im-
provement of the poetical or imaginative use of it, for the good
of human life and conduct, by considerate persons, according to
the best of their own judgment, antecedent to, or apart from, all
revealed information on the subject.
In like manner, the Mystical, or Christian, or Theological use
of it is the reducing it to a particular set of symbols and associ-
ations, which we have reason to believe has, more or less, the
authority of the Great Creator Himself.
Now the first peculiarity of the Fathers' teaching on this head
' Corap. St. Amb. Hex. vi. 8; ii. 7.
144 Mysticism, the Poetry of the Church :
^ ''' ' * having been shown to be their jealousy of the merely scientific use
of the external world, the next appears to be their instinctively
substituting the mystical use in its room ; not a merely poetical,
or a merely moral, but a mystical, use of things visible ; accord-
ing to the exposition of the word mystical just above given.
(5.) To state the matter somewhat differently: If we suppose
Poetry in general to mean the expression of an overflowing
mind, relieving itself, more or less indirectly and reservedly, of
the thoughts and passions which most oppress it : — on which
hypothesis each person will have a Poetry of his own, a set of
associations appropriate to himself for the works of nature and
other visible objects, in themselves common to him with others : —
if this be so, what follows will not perhaps be thought altogether
an unwarrantable conjecture ; proposed, as it ought, and is wished
to be, with all fear and religious reverence. May it not, then, be
so, that our Blessed Lord, in union and communion with all His
members, is represented to us as constituting, in a certain sense,
one great and manifold Person, into which, by degrees, all souls
of men, who do not cast themselves away, are to be absorbed ?
and as it is a scriptural and ecclesiastical way of speaking, to say,
Christ suffers in our flesh, is put to shame in our sins, our mem-
bers are part of Him ; so may it not be affirmed that He conde-
scends in like manner to have a Poetry of His own, a set of holy
and divine associations and meanings, wherewith it is His will to
invest all material things ? And the authentic records of His
will, in this, as in all other truths supernatural, are, of course,
Holy Scripture, and the consent of ecclesiastical writers.
(6.) It may be as well here to anticipate an objection, not un-
likely to occur on first meeting with the above statement. How, it
may be asked, are we to know, whether any particular image in an
ancient Christian writer be properly mystical, or merely moral or
poetical ? the momentary flight of some pious fancy, the edifying
analogy observed by some impressive teacher, or a true token
from tlie Creator of all things, given to our senses, of some truth
which He would fix in our hearts ? Any given image, on the face
of it, may be either of these three : how are we to distinguish,
with any certainty, the one from the other ?
not unreal, because often indefnite. 145
Now, in the first place, the objection proceeds on the unhappy § vi. 7-
and untenable supposition, that the truth, if we can at all approach
it, must be clear and plain to us throughout, and leave nothing
unaccounted for. Surely there may be in the remains of Antiquity
a human and a Divine Mysticism, without our being always, or
even generally, able to draw the exact line between the two. We
ourselves may be unworthy to decypher the writing, or our age
may have lost the key to it, and yet we may be sure that it is, in
part at least, a communication from the Source of Truth : and the
fact may be most desirable for us to know, were it only that we
might learn reverence in our way of dealing with the subject.
Is there not something analogous in the case of Holy Scripture
itself? We have reason to think that the personal character and
circumstances of the several inspired writers was permitted to
influence them, more or less, in their style and mode of composi-
tion. But where, and how far, we can have no exact knowledge.
It is seldom, if ever, given us to determine, what images were
suggested to any Prophet or Apostle by his own ordinary expe-
rience, and what were immediately prompted by the Holy Ghost.
If this does not hinder our using the Scriptures to edification,
no more need the other prevent our profiting by the imagery of
the Fathers, in our mode of considering the visible and external
world.
(7.) In effect, however, universal consent will carry us farther in
this matter, as in many others, than we should be apt beforehand
to imagine. There is a wonderful agreement among the Fathers,
in the symbolical meanings, which they assign to most of the
great objects in nature ; such an agreement as completely nega-
tives the supposition of the whole having sprung from mere
poetical association. It were against all calculation of probabili-
ties, that so many writers, of various times, nations, and tempers,
and in such different lines of life, should either light on the same
set of figures independently of one another, or coincide in imitat-
ing any one wlio had gone before them with no special authority ;
more especially, as many of the symbols are far from possess-
ing, at first sight, that exquisite poetical fitness, which would be
required, regarding the whole as a matter of taste ; on the con-
VOL. VI. — 89. L
146 The Ancient Symbols not merely Poetical, or Moral.
§ vi. 8. trary, not a few of them are blamecl,by the disparagers of Antiquity,
on this very account, that they are so forced, overstrained, and
irrelevant, and what classical judges might perhaps call i//vxP«'
Thus they complain, not perceiving that the fact on which
they rest, if it were granted, tends on the whole to make us sup-
pose a higher origin for the imagery in question, than any man's
poetical or imaginative taste. Such writers, for example, as St.
Ambrose or St. Cyprian, St. Chrysostom, or St. Gregory Nazian-
zen, who evince in their remains the most vivid sense of poetical
delicacy and beauty ; — when we find them all concurring in the
use of symbols, such as have now been described, must we not
suppose that they drew from a common source, and were guided
in their selection by something deeper than imaginative delight
in the beauties of nature, and in the exercise of their own inge-
nuity ?
(8.) The same may be said of the hypothesis (if such should
occur to any one) which would make these allusions of the old
writers merely moral ; i. e. so many analogies or similitudes selected
by themselves, from the course of human life or external nature, to
render some truth or precept more forcible and vivid. I do not
deny that such analogies occur ; especially when they are em-
ployed, as by St. Basil and St. Ambrose, in their Hexaemeron
before mentioned, in descanting on the works of Creation. For
example, we may take St. Basil's account of a mode which the
gardeners had of correcting the insipid wateriness of certain
fruits.
"^Some plant the wild figs close to the cultivated: others
bind the fruit of the forest fig to the mild and cultivated sort,
and so heal its insipidity, the juice of the wilder having the effect
of keeping the other from melting and falling away. Would
you know what this riddle, presented to you by nature, signifies ?
That we should often do well to resort even to those who are
aliens from the faith, and from them assume a kind of steady
vigour, for the performance of good works. I mean, should you
see any one either living as a heathen, or separated from the
1 Hexaem. v. 7- t. i. 47. C. Ed. Beiied. 1721.
St. Basil recognises the Mystical View of Nature, 147
Cliuieh by perverse heresy, yet behaving soberly and observing § vi. 8.
discipline generally in his moral conduct, do thou draw more
strictly the bands of thine own goodness, and so become like the
fruitful fig-tree, gathering energy to itself from the presence of its
wild kindred, so as both to stay its fruit from falling, and cherish
it more effectually to its full size."
It is easy to see that St. Basil produces this particular parable
as an invention of his own, claiming no particular authority for it.
And this I call the moral way of symbolizing natural objects.
At the same time, it may appear from the phrase, ri aoi ro
irapa riJQ avKrjg atny/ia (^ovXerai ; that he was speaking as one
himself aware, and among persons who made no question, that
every part of nature has its appropriate a'lviy^a, if we could but
find it out. Now this was an opinion which St. Basil was little
likely to frame for himself, through excessive indulgence to his
own fancy, since he of all the Fathers most earnestly protests
against the unrestrained use of allegory. We must then conclude
that the sacramental or symbolical view of nature which he
implies in the last-mentioned clause, had been received by
him as an acknowledged truth, not struck out as a speculation of
his own.
In other places indeed he avows it more distinctly : e. g. where
he speaks of the heavenly bodies ' : "If the heaven is vast
beyond the measure of human understanding, what mind then
shall have power to trace out the nature of the invisible things ?
If the sun, which is subject to decay, is so fair, so large, so
swiftly moving, yet so regular in fulfilling its courses, — being
both for magnitude proportioned to the universe, so as not to
exceed the due relation to the whole system, and for beauty a
sort of clear eye to nature, the very ornament of all creation, — if
I say this be a sight of which one can never have too much, what
must He be for beauty, who is the Sun of Righteousness ! If
the blind have a loss in not beholding this our sun, how great is
the sinner's loss in being deprived of the TRue light." Of this
epithet. True, thus applied, more will be said by and by ; I will
' Hexaem. vi, i. t. i. 50. E.
L 2
148 Natural Symbols, in rvhat sense Sacraments :
vj, J, 10. Ij^jj suggest here, that on consideration it may possibly be found
to involve the whole theory here contended for.
In the next paragraph, St. Basil speaks thus of the heavenly
bodies in general : " As the fire is one thing and the lamp
another, the one properly having power to enlighten, the other
made to conduct the light according to our needs ; so were the
lights of heaven now framed as a vehicle for that purest and un-
mingled and immaterial light. Even as the Apostle calls certain,
♦ 'Lights in the world,' although the True Light of the world is
other than they ; — such as that by participation of It the Saints be-
came lights of the souls whom they disciplined, delivering them
from the gloom of ignorance: — so also in the creation was this
visible sun, stored with that brightest light, by the Maker of all,
and kindled in the world."
These, and similar divine parables, so to call them, are evi-
dently introduced in somewhat of a different tone from that before
quoted about the cultivation of figs, which was introduced ex-
pressly and formally as a new thing ; whereas these assume a
certain familiarity, on the hearer's part, with the symbolical
imagery.
(9.) If one were to call these latter, of the sun and stars,
examples of a symbolical or sacramental view of nature, it would
perhaps be no improper mode of expressing the fact here intended ;
viz. that the works of God in creation and providence, besides
their immediate uses in this life, appeared to the old writers as so
many intended tokens from the Almighty, to assure us of some
spiritual fact or other, which it concerns us in some way to know.
So far, therefore, they fulfilled half at least of the nature of
sacraments, according to the strict definition of our Catechism :
they were pledges to assure us of some spiritual thing, if they
were not means to convey it to us. They were, in a very suffici-
ent sense. Verba visibilia.
(10.) This relation of things sensible to spiritual, appears to be
indicated by St. Irenaeus, who is the rather to be quoted on such
a subject, because he seems to be unsuspected of Platonism,
or any like forms of opinion, such as are supposed to have
biassed the Alexandrian school. He states as follows the
Statements of St. Irenceus and St. Aiigustin. 149
analogy between God's visible dealings with us, and His invi- § vi. 10.
sible dispensations.
•• The Word was made the dispenser of the Father's grace
for the profit of men, on account of whom He made so many
arrangements ; on the one hand shewing God to man, on the
other presenting man to God ; on the one hand maintaining the
invisibility of the Father, lest at any time man should become
a contemner of God, and that he might always have something
to reach after and advance towards ; on the other hand, mani-
festing God to the sight of men by many arrangements, lest
man, falling altogether away from God, should cease to be. For
the glory of God is a living man, but the life of man is the
vision of God. And if that manifestation of God which is by
the creature, supplies life to all things living upon the earth,
much more that manifestation of the Father, which is by the
Word, supplies life to those who have the sight of God \"
This sentiment seems to warrant us in extending to the whole
creation the maxim which occurs repeatedly in Irenseus, as
concerning the Old Testament. " Nihil enim otiosum, neque
vacuum signo, apud Deum." The occasions, indeed, on which
this saying is introduced, belong either to the types of the Law,
or the history of the Patriarchs. But the saying itself has a
proverbial air which gives it a much wider reference. It may
seem to answer to that deep sentiment, which appears to run
through the philosophical works of St. Augustin, and which he
has himself expounded in the Book de Libera Arbitrio, II. 41.
" As the whole life of the body is the soul, so the happy life of
the soul is God. . . And in so much as it is granted us to
rejoice in those true and certain goods, gleaming upon us even
while yet in this dark journey, consider whether this be not
what is written concerning wisdom ; . . . ' she will shew her-
self to them cheerfully in the way, and meet them with every
kind of Providence :' i. e. which ever way thou turnest thyself,
she speaks to thee by certain traces which she hath impressed
uppn her works, and when thou slippest back to external things,
' P. 333. Ed. Grab.
150 St. Augustin on the Mystery of natural Beauty.
§ vi. 10. recalls thee by the very forms of those external tilings.
So that whatsoever delights thee in the body, and allures thee
by the bodily senses, thou mayest perceive to be according to
certain numbers} and inquiring its origin, mayest return into
thyself, and understand that whatever reaches thee by the bodily
senses, cannot be to thee an object of approbation or the
contrary, except thou hast within thee certain laws of beauty,
to which thou mayest refer whatever seems outwardly fair
to thee."
Then, having given instances in the works of nature and
of art, in the beauty of motion and of form, and in the science
itself of numbers, gradually tracing all to their mysterious origin,
God revealing Himself by His Word or Wisdom, he breaks out'
into the following beautiful admonition :
" Woe to those who forsake Thee their guide, and go astray
in Thy footsteps ; who love Thy beckonings instead of Thee,
and forget what Thou intimatest by them, O Wisdom, most
delectable light of the purified spirit. For never dost Thou
cease to beckon to us, what and how great Thou art, and all
beauty in Thy creatures is but so many beckonings of Thine."
Elsewhere, in a vein of stricter argument, he shews how each
created thing, in that it is created, is an image or symbol of the
Most Holy Trinity.
" All these things then, made as they are by Divine skill,
exhibit in themselves both a certain unity, and a certain kind,
and a certain order. For whatever of these things exists, is first
some one thing, such as are the frames of bodies, and the intellec-
tual powers of souls : next, it is formed according to a certain
kind, such as are the figures and qualities of bodies, and the
faculties of knowledge or of art, which distinguish souls : lastly,
it craves or retains a certain order, to which head belong the
weights and positions of bodies, the appetites and delights of
souls. It behoves us therefore, looking at the Creator, who is
understood by the things that are made, to form the idea of a
Trinity, whereof in each creature, according as it is meet, is to
be seen some trace '."
' Ibid. 43. * De Trin. vi. 12.
The Hexaemeron of St. Basil and St. Ambrose. 151
(11.) But it is not so much the manner of the Fathers to express § vi. u.
their principles of interpretation in set statements, as to be con-
tinually referring to them, exemplifying them, and variously
bringing them out. Now there is no need, of course, to prove
the abundance of mystical allusion in the early Christian writers.
It is the very point which has most exposed them to the censure
of modern schools. But it may be of use to produce some
specimens of it, which, if they be fairly selected, and sufficiently
explained by the general statement above, may so far afford a
presijmption in its favour. Perhaps it will be as fair an expe-
riment as any, if we take the two treatises which have been
already cited, the Hexaemeron of St. Basil, and that of St. Am-
brose : if indeed they can properly be denominated two trea-
tises, the one being in many parts but a free translation of
the other.
Their peculiar fitness for such a purpose, lies partly in their
subject, and partly in the character of their authors. The sub-
ject, the history of creation, was one which put them especially
on their guard against excess of symbolizing, to the disparage-
ment of the historical sense ; as is proved by St. Basil's earnest
and repeated protest, cited before in these papers. His habits
of thought were moreover of that severe and scrupulous cast,
which would least suffer the imagination to take liberties.
The tendency of St. Ambrose, it may be thought, was rather
the reverse of St. Basil's in this respect. Bnt he too has several
observations, implying that he dared not indulge his own or his
hearers* fancy for mystical expositions, beyond a certain extent.
Comparing the literal meaning to simple fare, which it is both
charity and good sense to offer, rather than send the guests
away hungry ; " Elisha," says he ', " did not blush to set before
them barley loaves : and are we ashamed, when we find things
thus designated by their simple and proper names, to under-
stand by them simply the things created ? We read of Heaven,
let us take it to be Heaven : we read of earth, let us under-
stand that earth which bears fruit."
' Ilex. vi. 6.
1 52 The whole Visible World, a Type of the whole Invisible.
§vi. 12, 13. Ambrose then apologised for abiding so raucb by the ^etter :
Basil strongly reproved those who were for wandering from it too
widely. Concerning each therefore, it is evident, that when they
djd allow themselves to allegorize, they were proceeding on some
principle, not merely pleasing themselves. The one probably
would have had more of this sort, the other less, had it not been
for the Church's recognised line of interpretation. As it is, they
furnish between them a list of symbols, which ranges through no
small portion of created nature.
(12.) First, we have the sum of this visible world declared to
be an index or token of the invisible. " Some," observes St. Am-
brose*, " understand the word, 'beginning,' in the first verse of
Genesis, not in reference to time, but before time : as meaning the
chief point, or head, as if one should say in Latin, summa operis ;
heaven and earth being the sum of all visible things. And
visible things seem to bear relation, not only to the fitting up of
this world, but also to the setting forth of things invisible, and to
furnish a sort of argument of the things which are not seen ;
according to the saying in the Prophet, ' I'he Heavens declare
the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth His handywork.'
After whom the Apostle, in other words, but in the same sen-
timent, winds up his discourse, saying, ' That the invisible things
of Him are understood by the things which are made.' For we
readily think of Him as the Author of angels, and dominations,
and powers, by the moving power of whose Word this world,
so beautiful, was caused to be out of nothing, not having before
existed."
(13.) As to particulars : the arch of the sky ^ is a canopy spread
over the tents and dwellings of the saints. This, in reference to
its form : and then, in reference to the material of which the
canopy of the tabernacle in the desert was made, the sky again is
a scroll, whereon are written " the names of those many, who
have attained Christ's favour by their faith and devotion ; to
whom it is said, ' Rejoice, because your names are written in
heaven.' "
' Ilex. i. 16. » Ibid. 21.
Mystical Meaning of Sky i Birds, Waters. 153
The ffl|ht and hovering of birds, again, is a token that there § vi. 13.
are Powers in heaven above who watch our proceedings in this
lower world. Hence a well-known saying of our Lord's is
quoted by St. Ambrose ' as follows : " ' The birds of heaven do
always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven.' And
the clause, 'Birds around the firmament of heaven,' intimates that
the Powers which are in that visible space, behold all things in this
region, and have all brought under the observation of their eyes."
The waters flowing into the sea, are the people gathered into the
Church of Christ *. " The water," says St. Ambrose, " knows
how to be gathered, how to shrink and flee away, when God
gives the word. . . . Let us be like this water, let us recognise
one congregation of the Lord, one only Church .... To us also
it hath been said, ' Let the water be gathered from every valley,'
and there hath ensued a spiritual gathering, and one people : the
Church hath been replenished from among the heretics and
heathens This is the Church which hath been ' founded
upon the seas, and prepared upon the floods.' For upon you it is
established and prepared, who, like rivers run down into it, clean
from a pure fountain : concerning which it is said, ' The floods
have lift up, O Lord; the floods have lift up their voice through
the sound of many waters.' And it goes on, ' Wonderful are the
swellings of the sea ; wonderful is the Lord in His high places.'
Good rivers are ye : for ye have drunk of that eternal and full
fountain, wherein He flows who saith to you, ' He that be-
lieveth on Me, as the Scripture saith, out of his belly shall flow
rivers of living water.' "
In pursuance of this thought, the sound of the sea is the
Church service ^. *' What else is that concert of waves but a
kind of concert of the people ? For which cause it is a true
similitude, which is commonly made of the sea to a Church, first
receiving or swallowing by all its porches certain waves of people
entering in long array, then in the prayer of the whole congre-
gation sounding as with refluent waves, when in harmony to the
' Hex. ii. 15. » Ibid. iii. 2—6, 3 jjjjj ;;; 24.
154 Mystical Meaning of Herbs, Weeds, Flowers:
§ vi. 14. responsories of the Psalms an echo is made, a breaking of waves,
by the chanting of men and women, of virgins and children,"
(14.) Herbs again, and flowers, are the life and body of man.
'• When thou seest S" says St. Basil, •' a blade of grass or a
flower, let it guide thee to the thought of human nature, remem-
bering the image of the wise Prophet Isaiah, ' All flesh is grass,
and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.' " But this of
course is too obvious to need dwelling on.
Tares and weeds are false principles: not every kind of sin,
but wrong and perverse teaching. " Such spurious seeds*," re-
marks the same St. Basil, '* are produced not by any change in
the seed-corn, but subsist by an origin of their own, having an
appropriate kind. Yea, and they fulfil the image of those who
adulterate the doctrines of the Lord, and in no genuine way
become disciples of His word, but rather are corrupted by the
teaching of the Evil One, yet mingle themselves with the healthful
body of the Church."
The smell of flowers is the odour of sanctity. " How great,"
exclaims St. Ambrose', "is the beauty of a well-stored field !
What fragrance ! what sweetness ! what satisfaction to those who
till it ! how impossible to express it worthily, were we to use
our own language ! But we have certain testimonies from
Scripture, wherein we see that the fragrance of a field is com-
pared to the blessing and grace of the Saints ; as saith holy Isaac,
' The smell of my son is like the smell of a field.' "
Thorns on roses betoken the sting of pleasant sins, as says
St. Basil * : " The rose at first beginning was thornless, but
afterwards to the beauty of the flower the thorn also was super-
induced ; that close to the delightfulness of pleasure we might
have pain besetting us in every case, remembering sin, on account
of which the earth was sentenced to put forth to us thorns and
thistles."
Grafting, in its several forms, is moral and devotional improve-
» Hexaem. v. 2. t. i, 41. D. » Ibid. v. 5. p. 44. B.
* Ibid. iii. 36. * Ibid. v. 6. t. i. 45. A.
Grafting ; the Tamarisk ; the Palm ; the Heavenly Bodies. 155
ment. " Let no one therefore," says St. Basil \ " as jet living in § ''• ^^•
evil, cast himself away in despair, knowing that as husbandry
alters the qualities of plants, so the training of the soul according
to virtue is capable of mastering every sort of distemperature."
The myrica, or tamarisk, is the plant chosen by the Spirit
through Jeremiah, as an emblem of a double mind : for " as
such persons," says St. Ambrose ', " are every where at call, at
once professing, with the good, kindness and simplicity, and con-
necting themselves as closely as possible with the worst of men :
so also these shrubs, by a contradictory kind of rule, grow both
in watery and in desert places."
The palm is the chosen type of eternal purity. Other ever-
greens ' — " the olive," for instance, "and the pine — never put off
their apparel ; yet, however, they often change their leaves, which
keep the tree clothed in beauty, not by perpetual continuance,
but by uninterrupted succession. But the palm remains ever
green by the preservation and enduring, not the changeful suc-
cession, of its leaves. The very first which it put forth, it re-
tains without substitution or fresh supply. Do thou then, O
man, become like unto it, that to thee also it may be said, ' This
thy stature is like unto a palm-tree.* Preserve the verdure of
thy childhood, and of that natural innocence, which thou didst
receive m the beginning : that, planted as thou art beside the
rivers of waters, thou mayest have thy fruit prepared in thy
season, and thy leaf may not fall. This verdure of ever-flou-
rishing grace the Church having attained in Christ, saith, ' In
His shadow I sat down with earnest desire.* This gift of ver-
dure in the first instance the Apostles also received, that as no
leaf of theirs could ever fall away, so their very shadow should
be the healing of the sick."
(15.) Proceeding to the works of the fourth day, we have
another set of well-known symbols. The Sun, the greater
light, is our Lord ; the Moon, the lesser light, the Church.
" ' He appointed the moon for certain seasons, and the Sun
knoweth his going down.' This place," St. Ambrose tells
us *, "appears to be commonly understood in a mystical sense con-
» Hexaem. v. 7- 1. i. 46, 47. » Ibid. iii. 69. » IbiJl. 71. * iv. 7.
156 Mystical Meaning of the Sun, Moon, Stars:
§ vi. 15. cerning Christ and His Church : i. e. of our Lord's recognising
His own death and passion in the body, when He said, ' Father,
the hour is come, do Thou glorify Thy Son :' that by such His
setting He might give eternal life to all, who till then were op-
pressed with the setting of perpetual death ; that His Church
might have her certain seasons, of persecution, namely, and of
peace. For, like the moon, she seems to fail, but fails not indeed.
She may be overshadowed, fail she cannot. Thus in persecutions
some indeed depart, and cause her to wane, but it is in order to
her being replenished by the confessions of martyrs ; and blood
shed for Christ makes her bright with its triumphs, and her full
orb pours forth more abundantly the glory of her devotion and
faith. For the moon is subject to a diminution of her light, not
of her orb ... as may be easily seen when the air is pure and
transparent." A little after he adds ', " This is the true moon,
which, from the never-failing light of her brother borrows
for herself the lustre of immortality and grace. For the Church
shineth not with her own but with our Saviour's light, and draws
to herself splendour from the Sun of Righteousness, that her
word may be, ' It is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in
me.'"
The Saints are stars in this mystical heaven, as we have seen
in a passage from St. Brsil.
The four quarters of the heaven again have their part in this
sacred and universal language. What the east stands for is well
known : and St. Ambrose, from a passage in Canticles, tells us
that the south is the region of the Church 2. «' Tell me. Thou
whom my soul loveth, where Thou feedest, where Thou abidest
in the south :" i. e. as he explains it, " in the region of the
Church, where righteousness shines forth, where judgment is
dazzling as the noon-day, where no shadow is seen, where the
days are longer, because the Sun of Righteousness abides in them
more continually, as in the summer months." And the east and
south being interpreted, we know of course the probable inter-
pretations of the two opposite regions ; which however shall not
> Ibid. 32. => Ibid. 22.
the Silk'Worm : the Turtle-dove: the Wolf. 157
be dwelt on here, as they do not occur in the treatises now under § vi. 16.
consideration.
(1(5.) Of the many instances which might be specified from
among the works of the two remaining days, it will be enough
onlyifco mention three : two of them remarkable as having been
constantly employed, by poets and moralists, to represent some
portion of those truths, by association with which the Church has
made them Mysteries. St. Basil uses the silkworm as an evidence
or token of the Resurrection \ " You, who disbelieve St. Paul,
concerning the change when our bodies shall be raised, what say
you on beholding so many of the inhabitants of the air, how they
change their forms ? As we are told concerning that horned Indian
worm, that it first changes into a grub, then goes on and becomes
a chrysalis, and neither in this form does it abide, but decks
itself with broad and light pinions. When ye women, therefore, sit
carding out the produce of their work, I mean the threads which
the Seres export to us for the manufacture of soft garments, I
would have you take it as a manifest hint of tlie Resurrection,
and not disbelieve the change which Paul announces to all men."
Again, St. Ambrose sanctions the image, now almost trivial
among us, of the turtle dove, as representing chaste and holy
widowhood. " The Law of God," says he ^ "hath selected the
turtle as a gift of chaste and pure sacrifice. In fact, when our
Lord was circumcised, this was the offering : * a pair of turtle
doves, or two young pigeons.' For this is the true sacrifice of
Christ : bodily chastity, and spiritual grace. Chastity is asso-
ciated with the turtle, grace with the pigeon. For it is said that
when the turtle has been widowed by the loss of her proper mate,
she refuses to pair any more .... See how great is the grace of
widowhood, which is honoured even in birds."
One instance more may be mentioned, taken from among qua-
drupeds. The wolf is with St. Ambrose, as in holy Scripture, the
appropriate symbol of the Evil One, wasting the Church or be-
setting it. Upon this he observes (assuming common notions to
be true)*: "If a wolf sees a man before he is seen, the si^ht
> viii. 8. t. i. 78. E. » v. 62. » vi. 26, 27.
158 Mysterious Image of God in the Soul of Man.
§ vi. 17. takes away the man's voice ; but if he feci that the man saw him
first, it takes away his fierceness, and lie is unable to give chace.
.... Do beasts then know how to seek what shall profit them ;
and art thou, O man, ignorant of thy proper helps ? Knowest
thou not how to take away the courage of the Adversary, that as
a wolf seen first he may not escape thee, that thine eye may
discern his perfidy, and thou mayest be beforehand with him, and
stay the course of his words, — blunt his audacity and sharpness of
disputation. Whereas, if he anticipate thee, he takes away thy
voice. . . . Again, if a wolf rise up against thee, take a stone, and
he flies. Thy stone [of defence] is Christ. Betake thee to
Christ, and the wolf flies, nor shall he be able to confound thee."
Thus even popular and legendary sayings, on matters at first sight
farthest from religion, were made to convey high lessons, and
remind men of sacred duties.
(17.) Perhaps this exemplification of the mystical use of all God's
works, in the order of their creation, may be not unfitly crowned
with mention of that Image of God, which, as St. Augustin
explains, both in his books on the Trinity and in the City of God,
man bears in his mind, even in every thought of it. Thus he
speaks, in the later and more highly finished of the two works
just mentioned : — after pointing out how in all His creatures,
and especially in the threefold division of knowledge, whicli
even Gentile Philosophy acknowledged, God had left covert
traces of the Father who made all, the Son by whom all were
made, the Holy Spirit, or impersonated goodness, for whom all
were made ; — he proceeds to say ' : "And we even within ourselves
acknowledge a certain image of God, even of that most High
Trinity, at unspeakable distance indeed, yet such, that nothing
among Goo's creatures is by nature more akin to Him ; and
we expect yet a new creation, to bring it very near to Him by
resemblance also. For, first, we are : secondly, we are conscious of
being: thirdly, we delight in this our being and consciousness . . .
' These three we hold for certain of our own ; we trust not for
them to other people's testimony ; we ourselves feel them present,
and discern them by an inward and most infallible kind of sight."
' De Civ. Dei, xi. 26. a Ibid. § 28.
Virtues and Graces expressed by the bodily Members. 159
" Because therefore we are men, made after the image of Him § ^'' ^^^
who created us, to wliom appertains True Eternity, Eternal
Truth, Love both Eternal and True ; and He is the very Trinity,
Eternal, and True, and Beloved, neither confounded, nor sepa-
rated : in those things of course which are beneath us, feeling as
we do, that they neither could at all exist, nor be contained under
any idea, nor either seek or maintain any order, except they were
made by Him who in the highest sense Is, in the highest sense is
Wise, in the highest sense is Good : lot us trace out His foot-
steps, so to call theiTi, impressed on all the things wliich He
hath made, though on some more, on some less ; but in ourselves
contemplating the Im;ige of Him, even as that younger son in
the Gospel, let us arise and return to ourselves, in order that we
may return to Him, from whom by transgression we had with-
drawn ourselves. There our being shall no longer incur death ;
nor our knowledge, error ; nor our love, disappointment'."
(18.) Yet further: as the soul of man appears to be, in this sense,
an image of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity, so his body
is divinely adapted to the expression of the several virtues and
graces, which God would new- create in him. St. Ambrose, in
the end of his treatise so often referred to, has worked out this
idea in considerable detail.
*' The Forehead is an image of the soul," he says^ " speaking
in the countenance ; it is a sort of ground or tablet of Faith, on
which day by day the Nam&tjf the Lord is inscribed and retained'."
Again, alluding to the Kiss of Peace in the Holy Communion *,
" By the Lips," says he, " Piety and Charity are pledged, the
faithful affection of entire love is expressed."
Again * : " The Hand is that whereby we both work and dis-
pense divine mysteries : by the name whereof the Son of God
did not scorn to be designated, where David says, ' Thy right
Hand, O Lord, hath wrought mightily : Thy right Hand, O Lord,
hath exalted me.' " Thus he makes the Hand the symbol of ac-
tive devotion.
» De Civ. Dei, § 28.
• Hex. vi. 58. * i. e. when ptople cross lliemselves.
♦ Ibid. 68. » Ibid. 69.
160 Variety of Mystical Emblems not unscnptural.
vi. 19, 20. Lastly, the Foot by the same statement * expresses humility
and diligent obedience.
(19.) Upon these examples, taken collectively, one or two
observations may be made.
First, It will have been seen that the great majority of them,
the most important, and those of which the writers speak most
positively, are gathered out of Holy Scripture itself; a circum-
stance which singly would afford some presumption, that in the
rest of their imagery, not so immediately Scriptural, they did
not altogether indulge their own private fancies.
Again : if the figures used by any writer appear at first sight
irreconcileable with those used by another, or by himself else-
where : this also may be paralleled in Scripture, and in both will
generally admit of explanation, by tracing the original allusion
a little farther back. E. g. Water, as is well known, is the
oiKEiov, the choice image, both in Scripture and in the Fathers,
to express God's Holy Spirit communicated to His Church.
But St. Ambrose, as we have seen, makes the same waters the
emblem of Christ's people flowing into the Church : as St.
Cyprian ' had done before him, where he teaches that the water
in the Eucharistical cup is the token of the Christian people.
But these two meanings are not inconsistent, if we conceive the
Blessed Spirit to be graciously identifying Himself with the
people whom He sanctifies ; representing the change wrought in
them as so entire, that henceforth they, the whole being of each
of them, may be considered as effects and gifts from Him. Or,
if no such explanation occurred, still the incongruity would not
be greater than that which is found in the different applications
of this same symbol of water in the Holy Scripture itself: on
comparing, e. g. that living Water, which represents the Un-
speakable Gift, with the waters on which the mystical Baby-
lon sate, representing " nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and
tongues."
(20.) Thirdly, It may seem strange that some of these mystical
allusions should be grounded on fable, not on fact : that to the
" Ibid. 74. ' Ep. 63. p. 153, 154. Ed. Fell.
Some Symbols grounded on Legend, not on Fact. 161
Phoenix \ for example, and to the conception of tlie Vulture * § v'- 21-
without a mate (which is alleged in association with the Immacu-
late Conception). And the scorn is inexpressible, with which
the old ecclesiastical writers, from St. Clement of Rome down-
wards, have been visited, among modern critics, on this ground
especially.
But in the first place, these supposed facts, many of them,
are brought forward not merely as providential intimations of
mysterious Truths, but as arguments also from analogy, to silence
gainsayers. St. Clement, for example, says in effect, " You
believe this history of the Phoenix ; why should a resurrection
be thought incredible by you ?" It is clear that the force of this
depends not on the absolute truth of the statement, but on
its general acceptance by those to whom he was addressing
himself.
Further ; this also is one of those topics on which objectors
had need look well to themselves, lest they find that unawares
they have been dealing irreverently with the undoubted Word of
God. What are we to make, on their principle, of the inspired
direction to go to the ant, consider her ways, and imitate her
forethought, now that it appears to be held among naturalists,
that the common notion of that insect's frugality is no better
than a common error * ? Whatever account can be given of that
passage in Scripture, may be given, apparently, of like allega-
tions, now found erroneous, in the writings of the Fathers.
(21.) Lastly, no doubt a considerable number of the above cited
instances of Mysticism in things visible, will appear to some very
cold, strained, and unnatural. Qf these, however, not a few will be
found, on closer examination, to be no more than developments,
applications, or extensions, of imagery authorized by Scripture
itself, or by the Universal Church. And even where that cannot
be made to apj)ear, it is dangerous surely so to assume the con-
trary, as to indulge any light disrespectful thoughts of such
similitudes or associations, or of the writers who pointed them
' S. Ambrose, Hex. v. 79. S. Clem. Rom. Ep. 1. 25.
* S. Ambr. v. 64, 65.
* Kirby and Spence, Introd. to Ei.tomology, vol. ii. 46.
VOL. VI. — 89. M
162 Reverence due to these Indications of God's Presence.
§ V ii. 1,2. out ; considering how many such things may unquestionably be
found in God's own Word, which, if we lighted upon them in any
other book, we should be tempted to treat witii the same kind of
disrespect. Here, as in every part of our patristical studies, it
may be well to bear in mind the dream of Jacob, that we may
not to our fear and shame have to awake by and by, and say,
•' Surely the Lord was with us in so many places, betokened by
so many of His creatures, and we knew it not, but treated the
thought unworthily."
§ vii. Warrant of Scripture for the Mystical Vierv of things natural.
(1.) Enough, it is presumed, has been said on this subject, so
far as mere illustration of the fact goes. The store of examples
which has been adduced from two brief treatises only, the one
by St. Basil, the other by St. Ambrose, on the six days' work of
creation, must be enough to shew any attentive student, that if
the Fathers were wrong in this matter, they were most persever-
ingly and obtrusively wrong. If the principle of Mystical
Interpretation be at all an unhealthy symptom, it is so, not as a
local evil, but as a constitutional taint.
But it will be the object of this section to give some reasons
for believing, that such use of external things was intended by
the Almighty from the beginning of the Creation ; reasons taken
from Scripture, and to be illustrated perhaps hereafter by the
apparent ways of God's Providence, in preparing mankind for
Gospel Truth.
(2.) First, then, attention is desired to the use of the word
a.\r}Qi.vuq, True ; in the New Testament. It will be found very
significant, and to some may appear almost decisive, on the point
now under consideration.
Careful readers, of the Epistle to the Hebrews more especially,
must have noticed how the things of the Christian Dispensation,
as distinct from those of the Jewish, are characterized by this
epithet, akriBiva. Thus our Saviour is designated as rCbv hyitav
XuTOvpyoQ, KoX Tr)Q (TKTjyiic TTJQ aXridivrjc, "a Minister of the
Sanctuary, and of the True Tabernacle." And afterwards the
holy places made with hands are spoken of as merely ayriTvira
Scripture Use of the Epithet, True. 163
Tdv a X 7j 1 )/ w »/," Figures of the True^." The word has evi- § vii. 2.
dentlya relative signification : it implies the substance in opposition
to the shadow ; answering perhaps most exactly to " real " in the
language of the present day. And this agrees well enough with
the classical use of it : e. g. in Aristotle's Ethics^ : "To be well
and rightly framed by Nature towards the pursuit of the best end,
must be, if such a thing exist, »/ TtXtia Kal aXrjQivfi ehfvia, per-
fect and real excellence of Nature :" implying evidently that there
were spurious qualities, claiming that name improperly. And
again, in the same author', " In our reasonings on practical matter,
general statements are KoivoTspoi, ' more comprehensive,' but par-
ticular ones are aXrfdivcjrepoi, 'have more of reality in them.' "
So Demosthenes speaks of cpiXoi aXrjdtvol, "true friends*," and
Polybius' of aXrjdiy^ Traiceia, "true discipline," as opposed to
pretences of extraordinary warmth of affection, or skill in train-
ing.
Such also will be found to be the force of the word in the LXX,
answering most frequently to the Hebrew substantive ilQi^*.
much in the same usage as the substantive aXi'ideia, which, by the
confession of all commentators, more especially in St. John,
means the antitype as opposed to the type : " The Word dwelt
among us, full of Grace and Truth :" " Grace and Truth came by
Jesus Christ :" " They that worship Him, must worship Him
in Spirit and in Truth ;" •' Ye shall know the Truth, and the
Truth shall make you free :" ** I am the Way, and the Truth, and
the Life:" " When the Spirit of Truth is come, He shall guide
you into all Truth." In all these places, and in others similar to
them, the exposition of Theophylact seems to be generally re-
ceived, " The word. Truth, may be understood by way of con-
trast to the old figures or types, which were not the Truth,
oirtvEC ovK 7icrav aXijdeia."
With this notion on our minds of the force of aXrideia and its
kindred words, let us proceed to examine such places as the
following : " That was the True Light, rd ^wq to aXr]Bivov, which
' Heb, viii. 2 ; ix. 24. * iii. v. 17. » Ibid. ii. vii. 1.
*t. i. 113, 27. Ed. Reiske. » I. i. 2.
M %
164 " The True Light," parallel to " The True Tabernacle :
vii. 2. lighteneth every man that comcth into the world :" *' I am the
True Vine, j; afiTreXog »/ aXridipi) — and My Father is the Hus-
bandman :" " Moses gave you not that Bread from Heaven, but
My Father giveth you the True Bread from Heaven : roy ufjrov
IK Tov ovpavov roy a\r)div6y :" " If ye have not been faithful in the
unrighteous Mammon, who will commit to your trust the True
Riches 1" to aXijOirov rig vfuy cijau ; " who will give you that
which is real and true, not merely pretence and shadow ?"
On these and the like places it seems natural to inquire. If the
mention of the True Sanctuary, the True Tabernacle, the True
Holy Place, leads us to think of those particulars, at least in the
Jewish economy and ritual, as shadowy and typical of things far
more real, far more perfect than themselves : does not the mention
of the True Vine, the True Light, the True Riches, tend in the
same manner to encourage a notion, that the external and visible
objects, so referred to, have their counterpart in a world out of
sight, wherein things exist in some manner secret to us, but as
much more substantial and excellent than the mode of their being
here, as the things of the Gospel and Church of Christ are better
than those of the Law and Tabernacle of Moses ? As it was not
possible for a thouglitful believing person, having once heard of
the True Tabernacle, to consider that which stood in tlie wilder-
ness as any other than an unreal figure o^ the true ; so when the
Holy Spirit had spoken to men of the True Light, faithful hearers
must have learned thenceforth to have far other and higher asso-
ciations with this ligiit which we see, than they could have had
otherwise. They know that it is now but a faint earthly shadow
of a radiance as much more real than itself, as it is purer and
more unspeakably glorious. And so of the other instances, in
which the same form of speaking is implied.
But further : as the mention of the Sanctuary and Tabernacle,
the Ark and certain other particulars, must of course lead reflecting
minds, even without further information, to the surmise, that in
regard likewise of other points not specified, and in short in its
whole range and detail, the Jewish economy was typical of the
Christian ; so when the True Light and the True Vine are
named, we are naturally carried on to say to ourselves, " What, if
Popular Impressions confirmed by Scripture Phraseology. 165
the whole scheme of sensible things be figurative ? What, if all § vii. 3.
al(Tdi)ra answer to voj/ra in the same kind of way as these which
are expressly set down ? What, if these are but a slight speci-
men of one great use which Almighty God would have us
make of the external world, and of its relation to the world
spiritual ?'*
Certainly the form itself of speaking, with which these symbols
are introduced, would seem to imply some such general rule:
"That was the True Light;" "lam the True Vine;" "who
will give you the True Riches ? " taking for granted in a manner
the fact, that there was somewhere in the nature of things a true
counterpart of these ordinary objects, — a substance, of which
they were but unreal shadows ; — and only informing us in each
case, with authority, what that counterpart and substance was.
Should it further appear, that among those to whom the Scrip-
tures were addressed, there existed a feeling or opinion, call it
poetical or philosophical, or let it have been a mere popular
fancy, that such a connexion as this language seems to point to
really exists between the worlds visible and invisible ; the argu-
ment for the proposed interpretation of the word aXridivdy would
seem to be so far strengthened. We may reason here as about
real possession by Daemons. The more popular the opinion, the
less likely, surely, to find countenance in the language of inspira-
tion, if it were an error.
Now it would seem, that to one large class at least, of those
to whom the writings of St. John were at first addressed, — the
Hellenistical Jews of Alexandria, — this doctrine of correspond-
ence between things seen and unseen was familiar and very
acceptable.
(3.) But not to pursue this topic further at present ; let it be
considered, whether there are not, on the face of Scripture itself,
other obvious appearances in its favour. In the first place, there
is the broad fact, that the revealed oracles deal so largely, I
bad almost said so unreservedly, in symbolical language taken
from natural objects : and next, what is equally obvious, that the
chosen vehicle for the most direct divine communications has
always been that form of speech, which noiost readily adopts and
invites such imagery ; viz. the Poetical. These are undeniable
166 Typical Nature of Scripture Metaphors,
§ vii. 3. and surely most significant circumstances, and hardly to be
accounted for by the sayings of those, who would reduce all
Mysticism to the mere workings of human fancy. Let us reflect,
distinctly and at large, on each of them.
And first, as to the symbolical language of Scripture, is there not
something very striking, to a thoughtful reverential mind, in the
simple fact of such language occurring there at all ? This is not
meant of merely metaphorical and figurative language, expressing
one human and temporal matter by another ; but the case intended
is, when truths supernatural are represented in Scripture by visible
and sensible imagery. Consider what this really comes to. The
Author of Scripture is the Author of Nature. He made His
creatures what they are, upholds them in their being, modifies
it at His will, knows all their secret relations, associations, and
properties. We know not how much there may be, far beyond
mere metaphor and similitude, in His using the name of any one
of His creatures, in a translated sense, to shadow out some thing
invisible. But thus far we may seem to understand, that the
object thus spoken of by Him is so far taken out of the number
of ordinary figures of speech, and resources of language, and
partakes thenceforth of the nature of a Type.
For what is it, wherein our idea of a Scriptural Type differs
from that of a mere illustration or analogy ? It appears to lie
chiefly in these two things : first, that the event or observance
itself, to which we annex the figurative meaning, was ordered,
we know, from the beginning, with reference to that meaning :
next, that the ideas having been once associated with each other,
by authority of God's own Word, reverential minds shall never
thereafter be able to part with that association ; the sign will to
them habitually prove a remembrance and token of the thing
signified : and this also must have been intended in the first
sanctioning of the type, being the inevitable result, in all minds
that fear God, and watch for the signs of His presence. Thus
Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac, for example, had it been related
only by Josephus, might well have been used by way of simili-
tude or comparison to illustrate the bacrifice of God's only
begotten Son, on the same mountain, two thousand years after :
but it is not clear that wa could have positively called it a Type
Scripture sanctions Natural as well as Historical Types. 167
That which warrants us in doing so, is the constant interpreta- § vii. 4.
tion of the Church, confirming the thought which would natu-
rally enter into good and considerate hearts on reading of it in
the Scriptures.
Now let us transfer this notion of a Type, from historical events
related in Scripture, to such allusions as are now in question — •
allusions to the works of nature, and the outward face of things.
There also the same distinction is clearly conceivable. Let an
uninspired poet or theologian be never so ingenious in his com-
parisons between earthly things and heavenly, we cannot build
any thing upon them ; there is no particular certainty, much less
any sacred ness in them : but let the same words come out of
the mouth of God, and we know that the resemblance was in-
tended from the beginning, and intended to be noticed and
treasured up by us ; it is therefore very nearly the case of a
Type properly so called.
We read, for example, that Christ "was the True Light which
lighteneth every man that cometh into the world." This, per-
haps, in some part of its sense, might be an image not unlikely
to have occurred to an earthly orator, and we might have pro-
fited by it, as expressive and edifying, and there would be an
end : — but now we are informed by it, that even in the first
creation of the material light, God had respect to this our spiri-
tual Light ; the one was designedly formed to be an image of the
other ; and such an image as believers should recognise, having
their attention drawn to the resemblance by the Word of God
Himself. May we not then apply the same term in this case as
in the former, and may we not say that the Light visible is a
natural Type of God manifesting Himself by His Son, as Isaac
on the mountain was an historical Type of our Lord yielding
Himself to the death of the Cross?
(4.) Now if there were in the Book of God but one such image
taken from the works of nature, it might cause in thoughtful
minds a serious apprehension, that other cases might exist, of a
like intended resemblance between the worlds visible and invi-
sible, though none of them were as yet clearly and expressly
declared to us. Our natural tendency to express thin;^s unseen
by wliat we see, would seem to have acquired a real though
168 Illustrations, horn from a few given Symbols
§ vii. 5. slight sanction and warrant from above : and we might without
irreverence begin to speculate (if the word may be used,) on
other possible associations and mysterious meanings.
Indeed we should be almost driven to such speculations, in
the case supposed, of earthly and heavenly Light. The idea of
Light necessarily implies that of its opposite, Darkness ; and
naturally, to beings framed and conditioned as we are, it implies
also the ideas, of morning and evening, sun, moon, and stars,
shadow and sunshine, twilight increasing and decreasing, and
many others : for all which, many would be inclined to imagine
counterparts in the spiritual world, after they had been once
made aware that the Light itself was intended to be typical.
Now, on further examination of the Scriptures, they would
find these their anticipations verified. They would find that as
Light was the regular symbol of Him, by whom the Father is
manifested, who is God of God, Light of Light, the Word who
hath declared the Invisible ; so is the Sun in the heavens the
scriptural token of the Word Incarnate, *' coming forth as a
bridegroom out of His chamber, and rejoicing as a Giant to run
His course." They would find the condition of the world with-
out Christ represented as " darkness covering the earth, and
gross darkness the people ;" the dawnings of His manifestation,
when incarnate but yet unborn, compared to the morning twilight
or '* dayspring from on high :" and the severe trials and appa-
rent failures of the faith, which are to be expected even under
the Gospel dispensation, these they would find compared to an
evening twilight, endeavouring to prevail, but overcome by the
sun which never sets : as we read, "At evening time there shall
be light."
Other passages would shew them the Moon as the chosen
emblem of mortal imperfect human nature, reflecting more or
less of the Light which flows from Christ, less in the Synagogue,
more in the Church of the New Testament : and again the stars,
as lesser lights. Patriarchs, Apostles, Bishops, such as are any
how employed in turning many to righteousness. Eclipses,
rainbows, and other phenomena might be added.
(5.) But if the one idea of light and darkness, with their various
relations and modifications, were found thus, from beginning to
ne may assign to all Things visible a Mystical Import. 163
end, allegorized, not by our imaginations, but by Scripture itself; § vii. 6.
— one might reasonably conclude the like in the case also of the
other great and leading parts and attributes of the material
world : one might without presumption infer details and parti-
culars, where express Scripture gave only the general and com-
prehensive statement. Thus if we only found the Church called
generally tlie Vineyard of the Lord, His pleasant field, and the
like, we might reason on the processes of cultivation, the marks
of a good or unwholesome stock, the tokens of wrath and favour ;
though we nowhere read such parables as those of Isaiah and our
Lord, developing the idea with authority.
If one of two contraries were clearly symbolical, the other
would be understood to be so likewise : if good seed and noble
vines are God's obedient and accepted ones, there would be no
need to tell us that weeds and thorns and tares are the children
of the Wicked One.
Where two things are by nature inevitably and inseparably
related to each other, if Scripture give us the spiritual force of
the one, it should seem hardly possible to avoid inferring that of
the other. Thus if God's regenerate ones, taken separately, are
as good seeds cast into the ground, the loaf which comes of that
good seed, stands naturally for the same persons formed into
one Church or company : an imagination proved to be a verity
by the double offering sanctioned in God's law, first of ears of
corn, afterwards of consecrated loaves — and this, (to anticipate
another part of our subject) is an example of the manner in
which God's ancient ritual gives apparent sanction to the symbo-
lical use of things natural.
(6.) Now considering to what an extent nature (so to speak,)
delights in pairs, and groupings, and relations ; how " one thing,"
as the son of Sirach observes, is every where " set against
another ;" how impossible it is to find an object single and un-
combined with all others, or to limit the extent of the associa-
tions and connexions, which manifest themselves one after
another, when we set about tracing any one of the works of
creation, through all its influences and aspects on the rest ; it
ought not perhaps to seem over strange, if the symbolical and
1 70 Force of the Phrase, " A new Heaven and a new Earth"
§vi:. 7. mystical use of any one thing were thought to imply the possi-
bility at least of a similar use and bearing in all things.
And this presumption will evidently be strengthened, as the
instances which Holy Scripture furnishes multiply, and as we
find, on more and more acquaintance with it, that its typical
allusions are more developed, and come out on its surface, as
stars meet the eye more abundantly, when we continue gazing for
any time on what seemed at first merely a space of open sky.
St. Augustin appears to have been particularly gifted with the
power of discerning this kind of holy imagery. It is really won-
derful, as one reads his descants, on the Psalms more especially,
how many allusions he detects and brings out, with more or less
ingenuity in the particular instance ; so that it must require, one
would think, a mind prepossessed altogether with dislike of the
principle of Mysticism, not to be carried away with him. But
even without stopping to discern these more latent allusions, it
should seem that on the very surface of Scripture so many of the
chief visible objects are invested with spiritual meanings, that to
affirm the same of the whole world of sense ought not to sound
too hard a saying. The symbols which are mentioned are almost
enough to make up between them " a new heaven and a new earth,"
and to complete the proof, that " the first heaven and the first
earth" are to be regarded both generally and in their parts, as
types and shadows of those which are out of sight.
On this head there appears something instructive in the cir-
cumstance that the phrase just referred to, " a new heaven and a
new earth," occurs both in the Old and in the New Testament at
the very conclusion of a great body of Prophecy', in the course
of which the imagery of the visible vporld has been, one may say,
unreservedly employed to represent the scenes and transactions
of the invisible one. That is, after the devout mind has been
accustomed in detail to associations of that kind, comes in the
most comprehensive phrase tliat could be employed, apparently
confirming, by the Creator's authority, the view of creation, thus
become familiar. Perhaps it adds something to the argument,
' Isaiah Ixv. 17; Rev. xxi. 1.
Solutions proposed : why generally inadequate. 171
that in the second instance the phrase occurs within a few sen- § vji, 8.
tences of the conclusion of the whole Bible.
(7.) Nominalists however of various classes are ready enough
with their solutions of these appearances. They say, " it is the im-
perfection of language ; the Almighty Himself condescending
to employ human words and idioms, could no otherwise convey
ideas of the spiritual world, than by images and terms taken
from objects of sense." Or again, "it is the genius of Orien-
talism : if God vouchsafed to address the men of any particular
time or country, he would adopt the modes of speech suited to
that time and country." Or " the whole is mere poetical orna-
ment, the vehicle of moral or historical truth, framed to be beau-
tified and engaging in its kind, in mere indulgence to the infir-
mity of human nature."
But as to the particular point in question, would it not be
enough to say, in answer to all these statements together, that
even if granted in fact, they fail as explanations ? since the
question would immediately occur, Who made Language, or
Orientalism, or Poetry, what they respectively are ? Was it not
One, who knew beforehand that He should adopt them one
day, as the channel and conveyance of His truth and His will to
mankind ? Surely, reason and piety teach us, that God's provi-
dence prepared language in general, and especially the languages
of Holy Scripture, and the human styles of its several writers,
as fit media through which His supernatural glories and dealin<>-s
might be discerned : and if they be so formed as necessarily to
give us notions of a certain correspondence between the super-
natural and the visible, we can hardly help concluding that such
notions were intended to be formed by us ; except there be some
direct text, or strong analogy of faith, against it.
(8.) It is not very easy to see what is gained by the very rigorous
mode of interpretation, which some would apply to the phraseo-
logy of the Bible. Illustrations, they say, and analogies, are
never to be pressed a hair's breadth further than the least which
the context itself, and the turn of the reasoning or sentiment,
makes absolutely necessary. We must never be contented till
we have exhausted them, as nearly as possible, of all superna-
172 Si/stems merely literal to he suspccled :
§ vii. 9. tural meaning : just as the same people count it an axiom, that
in historical narratives there must be as few miracles, and in
Church ceremonies as few sacraments, as may be.
These rules hardly approve themselves to natural piety, which
is ever anxious to trace God as near at hand as it can,
alike in His words and in His works. Neither do they well
agree with the manner in which the Old Testament is commented
on in the New, nor with the sort of expansion and development
in detail, which subsequent passages not seldom furnish, of an idea
only just thrown out at first. In short, it seems equally absurd
to say, on the one hand, that the minimum of mystical sense is
always to be preferred, as it would be on the other, always to be
trying to extract as much of it as ever we can : — equally absurd,
and perhaps not quite so reverential. Surely it will always be a
question of degree, not so much how far each sensible image
has some spiritual meaning, as how far we are able to extract
that meaning with any sort of certainty or satisfaction ; saving,
as was just now said, the analogy of faith and the truth of other
Scriptures. Certainly there is no very obvious reason why we
should incline to the defect, rather than the excess in this
matter.
(9.) Waving, however, these remarks, which would seem to ren-
der all attempts of the kind nugatory, let us see how the Bible
imagery will accommodate itself to the particular theories above
mentioned, of those who would resolve it into mere accidents of
language. First, if the whole were mere necessity, arising out
of the imperfection of human speech ; or if it were oriental bold-
ness of phrase, or poetical ornament ; the symbols would pro-
bably be more varied than we find them to be : the same exter-
nal object would not so constantly occur, to express the same
invisible thing, through so large a collection of compositions, so
widely differing in style and tone. As to the imperfection of
human speech, we all feel every hour how it causes us to modify
and alter our images : we take the best symbol which occurs at
the time, but we use it in a kind of restless unsatisfied way, like
persons aware that it is not simply the best ; and by the time we
need it again, we have lighted very likely on something far truer
They fail to explain the Regularity of the Symbols. 173
and more vivid : and thus, we go on in conversation or in writing, § vii. 10.
improving or marring our imagery, as the case may be, but still
letting it be felt that it is by no means fixed and unchangeable.
Again, as to poetical ornament, variety and versatility of re-
source is obviously a great ingredient of that sort of excellency :
to be always resorting to the same similitude or analogy would
rather of course betray want of skill or power.
The third solution, that of Orientalism, may seem at first sight
to be more satisfactory as to this particular circumstance, of the
same figure constantly repeated. Granting, however, that the
literature of the Eastern nations is in some respects, like their
manners, more fixed and monotonous than ours, and accordingly,
that it uses to express things out of sight by a certain uniform
imagery, suggesting the notion of a settled and understood alle-
gory : yet in the first place, we know not h.ovv far this literature
may have been originally modelled on the Hebrew Scriptures,
instead of their taking any tone from some previous form
of it, the very existence of which, after all, is but conjectural.
Next, such a statement would put in a stronger light the fact of
that kind of style having been adopted by the Holy Ghost,
wliereby its symbolical words would seem to be raised to the
rank of Divine Hieroglyphics, so to call them. And thirdly,
except we suppose such a foundation of truth in them, it seems
hard to explain the sanction given to them by the writers of the
New Testament, using as they did a language, and applying them-
selves (St. Paul and St. Luke especially) to a condition of litera-
ture and society, well nigh the opposites of what this theory
supposes to have existed in Asia and the East.
The fixedness therefore of the Scriptural Imagery does not
appear to be sufficiently accounted for by any criticism of this
kind : but it is accounted for, if we suppose the material
world originally constructed with a view to the sacred analogies
which this symbolical alphabet of Scripture (if we may so deno-
minate it) suggests.
(10.) But here an objection occurs, of no small moment. The
fact may perhaps be denied, that the symbols of Scripture are so
fixed and regular, as this part of our argument supposes. And the
authority of St. Augustin may be appe;iled to, who seems to lay
174 Account of seeming Varieties in Scripture Imagery:
§ vii. 10. down a rule at first sight inconsistent with it. " Because," says he \
" there are a variety of ways in which one thing may appear to
resemble another, we are not to imagine it a set-rule, ' Whatso-
ever in any one place any thing has stood for in the way of
simile, that we are always to account its signification.' For the
image of leaven has been employed by the Lord Himself, both
in the way of reproof, as when He said, ' Beware of the leaven
of the Pharisees,' and in the way of praise, when He said, ' The
Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a woman which hid leaven, in
three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened '."
And then he proceeds to point out that this variety of symbo-
lical meaning may be in all degrees. " The same thing may some-
times stand for contraries, here in a good sense, there in a posi-
tively bad one, as in the instance just mentioned of leaven ; or
again, as the lion is the emblem of Christ ; * The lion of the
Tribe of Judah hath prevailed :' and it is the emblem also of the
Devil ; ' He goeth about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may
devour :' so the serpent, now in a good sense ; ' Be ye wise as
serpents ;' and now in a bad one ; * The serpent beguiled Eve
through his subtilty :' — Bread, in a good sense ; * I am the
living Bread, which came down from Heaven ;' and in a bad one,
•Bread eaten in secret is pleasant.' And there are many other
such.
" Now of these which I have mentioned, the signification is not
doubtful : because, our object being to exemplify, none but clear
cases could properly be introduced. But there are also some
whereof it is doubtful what turn we ought to give them : as, ' In
the hand of the Lord there is a cup of pure wine, full mixed.*
For here it is doubtful, whether he means the anger of God,
stopping short of the last penalty, i. e. not exhausted quite to the
dregs ; or rather, the grace of the Scriptures passing from Jews
to Gentiles, expressing by Inclinavit ex hoc in hoc : * He hath
stooped it away from this side, and entirely towards that :' there
remaining with the Jews only the outward observances, whereof
they have but a carnal understanding : and to this purpose may
be, * The dregs thereof are not emptied.'
De Doctr. Chr. iii. 35. t. iii. pars i. 42. D.
many Symbols fur one Object, and Objects for one Symbol. 175
"But thirdly," proceeds St. Aiigustin, "the same thing is § vii. 11.
sometimes spoken of not absolutely in contrary, but only in
diverse meanings ; as water signifying both the people: — as we
read in the Apocalypse, ' The waters where the whore sitteth are
peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues :' and the
Holy Spirit ; whence is that saying, ' Out of his belly shall flow
rivers of living water :' and so there may be other things here
and there, whereof water is understood to be the emblem, accord-
ing to the context of the places where it occurs."
Thus far St. Augustin : but when his instances come to be
examined, it will be found perhaps that his differences of signifi-
cation may be all reduced to diflferent shades or aspects of the
same meaning. The Leaven, whether it be bad or good, equally
represents moral impressions silently communicated from one to
another : the Lion represents a royal warrior, the Serpent, one
who counsels deeply and craftily, be their nature and their cause
what it may : Bread is that which satisfies the cravings of the
soul, in its healthy or in its diseased state : Wine in God's Hand
(the allusion is too sacred to be expressed without fear and hesi-
tation,) may, consistently with the rest of Holy Scripture, be
interpreted of the highest and most mysterious of all privileges,
which is either life or death as men choose to receive it. Of
water in its several meanings we shall speak presently.
(11.) But now, if the expression of diflferent objects by the
same symbol, which St. Augustin thus largely illustrates, is recon-
cileable with the general uniformity of the scriptural imagery,
much more the converse of it ; I mean when the same object is
represented by diflferent symbols. To take the highest and most
obvious, and also the most frequent example : our Lord Christ
in His several oflRces and relations may be represented by sym-
bols as different from each other as a Lamb and a Lion, the Sun
in Heaven and a Vine among trees, a Serpent of brass or a
Stone cut out of a mountain : and yet no violence be done to
the harmony (so to call it) of the symbolical language : not only
because things positively unlike may answer well enough to each
other in the way of analogy, and so may represent Him in some
one of His relations ; but also because it is reasonable to think,
1 76 St. Augustin on manifuld Meanings in one Scripture :
vii. 12. tliat the whole creation can hardly be too large or too various to
shadow out His manilold aspects, who is all in all to every one
of His creatures.
In tiie greatest possible variety, whether of objects typified by
one symbol, or of symbols typifying the same object, there must
still be substantial uniformity, because all point or converge to-
wards Him, His work and His everlasting kingdom: just as all
languages, however unlike in sound and structure, must be made
up virtually of the same parts of speech, having to express the
same mental processes, and the same external world.
(12.) With regard then to both grounds of scruple, we may thank-
fully acquiesce in the practical rule of St. Augustin ^ " When from
the same words of Holy Writ not one single meaning, but two or
more occur to our minds ; though we know not what was in the
mind of him who wrote the words, there is no danger, if it can
be shown from other passages of the Holy Scriptures that either
one of these senses is in harmony with the truth ; provided
always that the person engaged in searching out the Divine
Words make this his object, to come at the meaning of the
author, by whose agency the Holy Ghost wrought out this
Scripture. Either this, I say, he must attain, or he must frame
some other meaning out of those words, not opposed to the right
faith, providing himself with authority from some other portion
of God's Word. For possibly the author himself saw the same
meaning in the passage we wish to explain ; and certainly, at
least, the Spirit of God, who by him composed those words,
foresaw that it would occur to the reader or hearer ; nay. He
took care that it should occur, seeing that it also, by hypothesis,
rests on the truth. For what larger or more abundant provision
could have been made by Divine care in the authoritative words
of God, than for the same words to be capable of more accepta-
tions than one, other sayings no less Divine testifying to the
same, and demanding our approbation for them?"
Thus far St. Augustin ; and it seems well worth consideration,
whether there be not somewhat in the ordinary experience of
' De Doct. Chr. iii.38.
illustrated by the general Experience of Man. 177
us all, to confirm his view, high and transcendental as it § vii. 13.
is. Consider how very differently the same words sound in
our ears, according to our different moods of mind ; how much
more meaning we find, not only in a text of Scripture, but in a
chance passage of a book or a stray remark of a friend, when
we recall it by and by, more seriously than at first we listened to
it ; nay, and how much beyond what we suspected we discover
occasionally in our own words, uttered perhaps at first by in-
stinct, we hardly knew how : so that not only are we always
uncertain whether any two persons receive exactly the same
impression — the same moral impression, that is, — from any given
words, but even whether to the same person the same ideas are
conveyed by them twice. And yet there is truth and definite
meaning in the words so spoken, altliough they go so much
deeper with one man than they do with another. Surely then it
ought not to seem strange that the words of the Most High,
spoken with full knowledge of the thoughts of all who should
read or hear them, should be intended to give out more or less
of signification according to our preparation of heart ; and that,
in that sense, their meanings should be even infinite in number
and variety. It is only the fact which our own experience sug-
gests, applied to the case of those sayings which are inspired.
Again ; we know well that our good and serious moods are
those, in which we most surpass ourselves in our apprehension
of deep and grave sayings ; and what is this in effect, but St.
Augustin's remark, •' That practice strengthened by the exercise
of piety — usus pietatis exercitatione rohoratus — will greatly aid
us in coming to a true signification ?" Well is it for those, who
are able to confirm this, from the help which they have found in
pure imaginations, and rightly tuned affections, rather than con-
trariwise, from the hindrance they have brought on themselves by
indulging base and frivolous fancies. But in one way or the
other, we must all more or less have experienced it.
(13.) Further, one may conceive a person arguing, that this view
is dangerous and apt to unsettle foundations, making all doctrines
subjective rather than objective ; true to the individual, not true
VOL. VI. — 89. N
1 78 The Creeds guard the Allegory against doctrinal Abuse.
vii. 13. in themselves. There is obviously danger of this ; but here too
the experience we have appealed to will help us. Great as the in-
terval may be between one man and another in their understanding
of a given passage, — or between our own ordinary perception of
it, and that which we enjoy when our thoughts are most elevated
and refined, — yet these variations are all within certain limits :
the imagery tends all in the same general direction, though some
go never so much deeper, higher, wider, than others : just as we
do not question the real significancy of words, or the existence
of coloured objects, because we are not sure that the shades of
meaning or of colour are quite the same to any two different
minds. The Catholic Faith, the Mind of Christ testified by His
universal Church, limits the range of symbolical interpretation
both in Scripture and in nature : the Protestant watchword,
Verhum Dei, must be made primitive by the constant addition,
Verbum Deus : or, as St. Augustin again expresses it, " We that
are made the Body of Christ, let us not fail to recognise our
own voice in the Psalms and other Scriptures :" our own voice,
because it is the Voice of Him in whom we are all made one.
"Christ," he proceeds, " wheresoever in those Books, where-
soever in those Scriptures I am journeying and panting for
breath, in that sweat of our face which is part of our sentence
as men, — Christ is there, openly or secretly to meet and refresh
me. It is He Himself, who, by the very difficulty which I some-
times have in finding Him, inflames my longing, so that what I
do find of His I may eagerly suck in, and retain to my soul's
health, absorbed in my very joints and marrow." And, "In
reading the Scriptures, he only, who finds no pleasure in these
holy manifestations of Christ, is turned unto fables, not enduring
sound doctrine." In other words, the analogy of faith, Christ
set before us in the Creeds of the Church, will give a fixedness
and reality to our symbolical interpretations, how wide soever in
other respects the latitude and variety which seems to be allowed
in them.
It need only just be mentioned that the apparent double or
manifold senses of a great portion of the Prophecies, and the
Complexity of the Scripture Symbols; exempUJied. 179
manner in which the New Testament generally accommodates, § vii. 14.
as it is called, texts from the Old, obviously harmonize with
what has been advanced out of St. Augustin on this head.
(14.) Closely connected with this topic, of the fxedaess of the
sacred symbols, is what may be called iheir complexity ; the manner
in which, not seldom, the primary and simple ones among them
are varied and combined, as letters are combined into syllables,
words, and sentences, retaining each somewhat of their original
sound : or rather, as those compound derivatives which are made
up of significant terms, each term modified, not changed, in its
import. To take an example, than which none can be more holy
and venerable, none, as it may seem, more unquestionable. The
appropriate symbol of the Holy Spirit is, as the name implies,
Breath — the Breath of the Father and the Son, omnipresent,
all powerful : and hence it is sometimes represented by the air
or wind, as in our Lord's well known vpords to Nicodemus, and
when the disciples on the day of Pentecost heard a sudden sound
as of a rushing mighty wind ; and His function as the Lord and
Giver of Life is represented by the gift of respiration to living
things. "God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life,
and man became a living soul ;" and " when He letteth His
breath go forth, they are made ; and He reneweth the face of the
earth."
But breath has not only in it air, but moisture ; and this con-
densed is first clouds, then drops of rain, then water gushing out
in springs, or flowing in rivers ; or in a way of approach yet
more silent and invisible, dew : and all these are scriptural
emblems of the Holy Spirit in Its several aspects and rela-
tions. The overshadowing and guiding cloud, in which as
well as in the Red Sea, the Israelites were baptized unto Moses,
was a token, we know from St. Paul, of the descent of the rege-
nerating Spirit of Christ, with a hovering, brooding motion, like
that of a dove, first on our Lord Himself, then on each of His
Members at their baptism : its appearing over the Tabernacle
in glory, and filling both it and the Temple, prefigured the
warmth and brightness of the heavenly Comforter, diffusing
Itself over the whole Church at once, and entering into every
N 2
180 The Symbols of the Holy Spirit various yet uniform.
§ vii. 14. corner of the new-born soul : the descent of a cloud in rain or
dew, is the Spirit communicating Himself in gifts and sanctifying
graces ; becoming (if one may so speak,) water for the nourish-
ment of our souls, as He was air to give them life ; according to
that verse in the Psalm, " Thou, O Lord, sentest a gracious rain
upon Thine inheritance, and refreshedst it when it was weary :"
and it may be that the express words of the Holy Ghost are
compared to distinct drops of rain, and His silent promptings to
the dews, more aerial and impalpable. So Moses, " My doc-
trine," my set and formal instructions, " shall drop as the rain ;
my speech," my incidental hints and whispers, " shall distil as
the dew."
The fountains again and depths of pure water, gushing out for
our purification and refreshment, how or from whence we know
not, except that we are sure they are originally derived from
above, — these are the Holy Ghost in His larger communica-
tions of baptismal, sacramental grace ; opening fountains in the
hard dry heart of man, which seem to belong to it, but are en-
tirely the gatherings of His rain. And this image is kept up
even to the final description of the Church's glory ; where, as
it should seem, the goings forth of the Comforter are typified
by " a pure river of water of life, proceeding out oi the throne
of God and of the Lamb," with the Tree of Life growing beside
it for the healing and quickening of the nations. And indeed
all that is said in every part of the Scriptures, concerning the
righteous as trees of the Lord's planting, the Church as His
vineyard, the wicked as corrupt and wild plants, — in itself one of
the plainest and most abundant of all the sources of scriptural
parables, — combines wonderfully well with the thought of air and
water, as emblems of the life-giving, sanctifying Breath of the
Most High.
On the other hand, as the Breath of God thus becomes water,
to cherish, and refresh, and cleanse those souls which have
not forfeited the Divine Life, so in It's severer influences,
either to purify or consume, (for purgation is partial consuming,)
It becomes fire from heaven; first to try, and prove, and
refine, every man's work here ; next, utterly to destroy and
Complex Imagery sanctioned by our Lord and St. Paul. 181
waste what shall be found vile and refuse hereafter. Thus He § vii. 15.
who is a consuming fire, and who had so shewn Himself on
Mount Sinai, and on so many other occasions when the ungodly
were to perish at His presence ; He made His coming known by
cloven tongues like as of fire, when that flame was to be kindled
which Christ came to send upon the earth : and we have an
awful notice given, that it is " the Breath of the Lord," which
" as a stream of brimstone, kindles " the fire which is " ordained
of old" and "prepared for the devil and his angels."
Thus remarkably does the one idea of the Breath of the Lord,
followed up and variously combined with others, explain almost
all the principal symbols used in Scripture to denote the influ-
ences and operations of the Holy Spirit of God. Surely the
Ancient Church was justified in thinking that analogies, so uni-
formly kept up, and at the same time so elaborate and complex,
were intended for something beyond mere poetical ornament.
When, with hearts and memories full of Scripture, they looked
out on Nature and her operations, they could not but be con-
scious that the lessons which they had read and heard were
perpetually coming before them in what they saw : and how
was it possible for them to help believing that the association
was providential and divine ; they who were accustomed to
behold God's hand in far lesser and more ordinary things?
(15.) Besides, they found this kind of correspondence repeatedly
taken for granted and reasoned on in the Holy Scripture itself.
Did they not see how St. Paul works out in the minutest detail
the notion of the Church being the Body of Christ ? how he
teaches us to deduce from it our every day duties and relations to
each other ? And could they doubt that all this was intended,
in the first formation of the human body, by Him who caused
all things to be for the Church's sake? In these analogies
unfolded by St. Paul, and still more strikingly in our Lord's
Parables, they would perceive the principle sanctioned, and the
means affbrded, of spiritualizing all the chief olyecis and pro-
cesses of which common life, and the world of sense, are made
up : and they would think themselves justified in reverently
carrying on these analogies, according to their skill, to other
points of detail, not expressly mentioned in Scripture.
182 Specimen of complex Imagery from the Canticles:
i vii. 15. As an example, take St. Augustin's comment on an exquisite
pastoral image in the Song of Solomon. He is not, observe, rea-
soning in proof of our principle, — that was always taken for granted
by the Fathers, — but he is descanting on the beauty and useful-
ness of it. " Why," he asks ', " is the hearer less delighted,
when he is told literally of holy and perfect men, whose life and
conduct are the means, whereby Christ's Church separates those
who come to her from all superstitions, and unites them,
imitating the good which they see, to her own body, which same
good and faithful and true servants of God have cast off the
burthens of the world, and have drawn near to the Holy Laver of
Baptism, and going up from thence, are now, through the quick-
ening Spirit, bearing the fruit of both kinds of love, the love of
God and of our neighbour : — why is it, I say, that the literal
statement of these things affords less satisfaction to the hearer,
than if one expound to the same effect that verse in the Song of
Songs, where it is said to the Church, receiving praise under the
similitude of a beautiful woman, ' Thy teeth are like a flock of
sheep even shorn, which are gone up from the washing, which
every one of them bear twins, and there is none barren among
them V Certainly the instruction one receives is in substance no
more, than in listening to the former statement, made as it was
in the most literal words, without the support of this similitude.
And yet there is, I know not how, an additional pleasure in
contemplating those saints, when I see them, quasi denies Ecclesice,
cutting oflf men from their native errors, and transferring them
in a manner into the substance of her body, divided into morsels,
and champed, and their hardness mollified. Again, I recognise
with great delight the sheep newly shorn, their earthly burthens,
as fleeces, deposited, and going up from the bath, i. e., from
baptism. I see how they all bring forth twins, the two com-
mandments, namely, of love ; and not one of them is barren of
that holy fruit."
This, it will be observed, is produced by St. Augustin himself
as a specimen of the mode of interpretation, which the Church
in his time received undoubtingly, as the true mind of the
' De Doctr. Christ, ii. ^.
Our Lord's Proverbs : The Mosaic Ritual. 183
Spirit : and whatever may be thought of the particular instance, § ^ii- 16,17.
many will feel that there is both piety and probability in such a
mode of using the riches of Scripture and of Nature, mutually
to illustrate and bring out each other ; and will see in this eager
profuse way of heaping simile upon simile, something not un-
like St. Paul's own manner of passing rapidly, even in the
gravest arguments, from one analogy to another more or less
connected with it : as from the seed changed in the ground to
the difference between earthly bodies and heavenly ; and again,
from the unequal magnitude of the stars to the inequality of the
Saints in glory. There is no discrepancy between the tone of
the Apostles and that of the Church in after ages, in respect of
their both assuming, clearly and deliberately, a certain corre-
spondence, intended by the Creator, between the material and
spiritual worlds.
(16.) Something perhaps is added to this argument by the
manner in which our Lord's own example teaches us to take up
and use proverbial sayings. " Lift up your eyes and look unto
the fields, for they are white already unto the harvest ;" ** If they
do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry ?"
By instructing His disciples to afRx a divine sense, an inter-
pretation connected with the things of His kingdom, to familiar
household words such as these. He seems to sanction the idea,
that there is perhaps nothing so low and trivial in our ordinary
life, but a spiritual and heavenly meaning may be found for it.
And further. He seems to hint to us, that this correspondence of
things seen with unseen, is by no means so high and transcen-
dental a matter, but that it may well be set before the minds even
of very simple uneducated Christians — the class which is most
apt to be attracted by proverbs, and to use them frequently.
(17.) Another, and a yet more direct sanction appears to be
afforded by the large use of material signs for spiritual objects and
processes in the inspired Mosaic Ritual. The whole of that Ritual
served, we know, to the example and shadow of heavenly things ;
it was made and ordered according to the pattern shewed to
Moses in the Mount. Here, therefore, were no inconsiderable
number of visible materials, forms, and actions, concerning
184 Nature allegorized by Scripture, the Ritual and Historical:
§vii. 18,19. which the Fathers knew for certain that they were intended to
express heavenly things, — that their archetypes, so to speak,
existed in the Mount. By reference to these they might prove
and check, as it were, the conclusions to which they had come
in other ways, whether by instinct, or obscure tradition, or ex-
amination of scriptural imagery in general, regarding the symbo-
lical meaning of external objects. If they had been led, for
example, to conjecture that certain animals — the lamb, the dove,
the ox, the goat, and the like — were types, or tokens, in nature,
of certain spiritual beings or truths : they would be confirmed in
such their conjecture by the use of those animals, or their images,
in the worship and furniture of the Tabernacle. The like may be
said of plants — the palm, the cedar, the hyssop, and others ; of
colours, such as white, purple, and scarlet; of materials, linen and
woollen ; metals and precious stones : the use of any such thino-
in the divinely ordained ritual would give a new and heavenly
significance to any mention of it which might occur in Isaiah and
the Psalms, and both together would set it apart for ever, in the
judgment of affectionate and imaginative minds, as a natural
symbol or sacrament of something out of sight.
(18.) The historical Scriptures too would often furnish addi-
tional presumptions to the same effect, by the recorded use of certain
materials and forms, — the material of wood for instance, and the
form of the Cross, — in God's miraculous and providential deal-
ings. Indeed, so many and so clear are the correspondencies in
this kind, that there have not been wanting ingenious writers,
both in ancient and modern times, who have explained particular
parts, both of the ritual and history, such as the forms of the
Tabernacle and Temple, and the construction of the Ark, as phy-
sical allegories, designed to represent the system of the world, or
the frame of the human body : theories seemingly too wild and
strange to be maintained by men of learning and piety, but
accounted for, if we may be allowed to suppose that both the
history or ritual on the one hand, and the system of the world
or of the body on the other, are separate sets oi visible symbols
shadowing out invisible truths.
(1 9.)There is one way more, and a very obvious one, in which
and by the Explanations of them in the New Testament. 185
the consideration of the Ritual and History might confirm the early § *"• 20.
Christians in their mystical explanations of the whole external
world. They found some particulars, both ritual and historical,
mystically expounded in the New Testament, and plain im-
plications, almost assertions, that the whole was capable of
similar exposition : e. g. that " Moses made all things accord-
ing to the pattern shewed him in the Mount;" and that '^ all
that befel God's people in the wilderness happened unto them as
types of us." When therefore in the natural world they had
ascertained a few chief symbols, it was reasonable for them to
infer that these too were but specimens, single chords of a har-
mony to be fully made out hereafter : they would feel like
learners of a language, who have picked up the meaning as yet
but of a few words here and there, but have no doubt whatever
that the whole has its meaning: and perhaps they would think
that they found warrant for this in such texts as that of St. Paul
to the Romans, " The invisible things of Him from the creation
of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
are made." This would seem to lay down the principle or canon
of mystical interpretation for the works of Nature, as the other
texts, just now specified, for the Mosaic ceremonies and the
history of the Jews.
(20.) So much for the direct encouragement given in the Bible to
the symbolical use of things natural. There is, as was mentioned
above, another indirect yet real presumption to the same effect,
which at present can only just be adverted to : and that is, the
studied preference of poetical forms of thought and language, as
the channel of supernatural knowledge to mankind. Poetry, traced
as high up as we can go, may almost seem to be God's gift from the
beginning, vouchsafed to us for this very purpose : at any rate
the fact is unquestionable, that it was the ordained vehicle of
revelation, until God Himself was made manifest in the flesh.
And since the characteristic tendency of poetical minds is to
make the world of sense, from beginning to end, symbolical of
the absent and unseen, any instance of divine favour shewn to
Poetry, any divine use of it in the training of God's people,
vol.. VI. — 89. o
186 Favour ahervn to Poetry, an indirect Sanction to Mysticism.
vii. 20, would seem, as far as it goes, to warrant that tendency ; to set
God's seal upon it, and witness it as reasonable and true.
Much might be said on this head : but it is enough now to
have just indicated it, as one among the many reasons for think-
ing that Christian Antiquity was far more scriptural, than at first
we might be apt to imagine, as in many other things, so in the
deep mystical import, which it unreservedly attributes to the
whole material world, and to all parts of it.
i
(To be continued.)
These Tracts are continxted in Numbers, and sold at the price
of 2rf. for each sheet, or 7s. for 50 copies.
LONDON: PRINTED FOR J. G. F. & J. RIVINGTON,
ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD, AND WATERLOO PLACE.
1841.
Gilbert & Rivington, Printers, St. John's Square, London.
The following Works, all in single volumes, or pamphlets, and
recently published, will be found more or less to uphold or eluci-
date the general doctrines inculcated in these Tracts : —
Bp. Taylor on Repentance, by Hale. — Rivingtons.
Bp. Taylor's Golden Grove. — Parker, Oxford.
Vincentii Lirinensis Commonitorium, with translation. — Par-
ker, Oxford.
Pusey on Cathedrals and Clerical Education. — Roake 8^ Varty.
Hook's University Sermons. — Talboys, Oxford.
Pusey on Baptism (published separately). — Rivingtons.
Newman's Sermons, 4 vols. — Rivingtons.
Newman on Romanism, &c. — Rivingtons.
The Christian Year. — Parker, Oxford.
Lyra Apostolica. — Rivingtons.
Perceval on the Roman Schism. — Leslie.
Bishop Jebb's Pastoral Instructions. — Duncan.
Dodsworth's Lectures on the Church. — Burns.
Cary on the Apostolical Succession. — Rivingtons.
Newman on Suffragan Bishops. — Rivingtons.
Keble's Sermon on National Apostasy. — Rivingtons.
Keble's Sermon on Tradition. — Rivingtons.
Memoir of Ambrose Bonwick. — Parker, Oxford.
Hymns for Children on the Lord's Prayer. — Rivingtons.
Law's first and second Letters to Hoadly — Rivingtons.
Bp. Andrews' Devotions. Latin and Greek.— Pickering.
Hook's Family Prayers. — Rivingtons.
Herbert's Poems and Country Pastor.
Evans's Scripture Biography — Rivingtons.
Le Bas' Life of Archbishop Laud. — Rivingtons.
Jones (of Nayland) on the Church.
Bp. Bethell on Baptismal Regeneration. — Rivingtons.
Bp. Beveridge's Sermons on the Ministry and Ordinances. —
Parker, Oxford.
Bp. Jolly on the Eucharist.
Fulford's Sermons on the Ministry, &c. — Rivingtons.
Rose's Sermons on the Ministry. — Rivingtons.
A Catechism on the Church. — Parker, Oxford.
Russell's Judgment of the Anglican Church. — Baily.
Poole's Sermons on the Creed. — Grant, Edinburgh.
Sutton on the Eucharist. — Parker, Oxford.
Leslie on the Regale and Pontificate — Leslie.
Pusey's Sermon on November 5. — Rivingtons.
Bishop Wilson's Sacra Privata. — Parker, Oxford.
The Cathedral, a Poem. — Parker, Oxford.
Palmer's Ecclesiastical History. — Burns.
Larger Works rehich may be profitably studied.
Bishop Bull's Sermons. — Parker, Oxford.
Bishop Bull's Works. — University Press.
Waterland's Works. — Do.
Wall on Infant Baptism. — Do.
Pearson on the Creed. — Do.
Leslie's Works. — Do.
Bingham's Works.— Straker, London.
Palmer on the Liturgy. — University Press.
Palmer on the Church.— Rivingtons.
Hooker, ed. Keble. — Rivingtons.
Ya<i' n., T
',,!,■
No. 90.] [Price U.
TRACTS FOR THE TIMES.
REMARKS ON CERTAIN PASSAGES IN THE
THIRTY-NINE ARTICLES.
[The alterations in Editions subsequent to the first are put in brackets.]
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Introductiok 2
§ 1. Articles vi. & xx. — Holy Scripture, and the Autho-
rity of the Church 5
§ 2. Article xi. — Justification by Faith only 12
§ 3. Articles xii, & xiii. — Works before and after Justi-
fication o 14
§ 4. Article xix.— The Visible Church 17
§ 5. Article xxi. — General Councils 21
§ 6. Article xxii. — Purgatory, Pardons, Images, Relics,
Invocation of Saints 23
§ 7. Article xxv. — The Sacraments 43
§ 8. Article xxviii. — Transubstantiation 47
§ 9. Article xxxi. — Masses 59
§ 10. Article xxxii. — Marriage of Clergy 64
§ 11. Article xxxv. — The Homilies 66
§ 12. Article xxxvii. — The Bishop of Rome 77
Conclusion 80
VOL. VI. — 90. B
Introduction,
It is often urged, and sometimes felt and granted, that there
are in the Articles propositions or terms inconsistent with the
Catholic faith ; or, at least, when persons do not go so far as to
feel the objection as of force, they are perplexed how best to
reply to it, or how most simply to explain the passages on which
it is made to rest. The following Tract is drawn up with the
view of showing how groundless the objection is, and further >of
approximating towards the argumentative answer to it, of which
most men have an implicit apprehension, though they may have
nothing more. That there are real difficulties to a Catholic
Christian in the Ecclesiastical position of our Church at this day,
no one can deny ; but the statements of the Articles are not in
the number; and it may be right at the present moment to insist
upon this. If in any quarter it is supposed that persons who
profess to be disciples of the early Church will silently concur
with those of very opposite sentiments in furthering a relaxation
of subscriptions, which, it is imagined, are galling to both parties,
though for different reasons, and that they will do this against
the wish of the great body of the Church, the writer of the fol-
lowing pages would raise one voice, at least, in protest against
any such anticipation. Even in such points as he may think
the English Church deficient, never can he, without a great
alteration of sentiment, be party to forcing the opinion or pro-
ject of one school upon another. Religious changes, to be
beneficial, should be the act of the whole body ; they are
worth little if they are the mere act of a majority \ No good
can come of any change which is not heartfelt, a development
1 This is not meant to hinder acts of Catholic consent, such as occurred an-
ciently, when the Catholic body aids one portion of a particular Church against
another portion.
Introduction. 3
of feelings springing up freely and calmly within the bosom
of the whole body itself. Moreover, a change in theological
teaching involves either the commission or the confession of sin ;
it is either the profession or renunciation of erroneous doctrine,
and if it does not succeed in proving the fact of past guilt, it,
ipso facto, implies present. In other words, every change in reli-
gion carries with it its own condemnation, which is not attended
by deep repentance. Even supposing then that any changes in
contemplation, whatever they were, were good in themselves,
they would cease to be good to a Church, in which they were the
fruits not of the quiet conviction of all, but of the agitation, or
tyranny, or intrigue of a few ; nurtured not in mutual love, but
in strife and envying ; perfected not in humiliation and grief,
but in pride, elation, and triumph. Moreover it is a very serious
truth, that persons and bodies who put themselves into a dis-
advantageous state, cannot at their pleasure extricate themselves
from it. They are unworthy of it ; they are in prison, and Christ
is the keeper. There is but one way towards a real reformation,
— a retiun to Him in heart and spirit, whose sacred truth they
have betrayed ; all other methods, however fair they may pro-
mise, will prove to be but shadows and failures.
On these grounds, were there no others, the present writer,
for one, will be no party to the ordinary political methods by
which professed reforms are carried or compassed in this day.
We can do nothing well till we act " with one accord ; " we can
have no accord in action till we agree together in heart ; we can-
not agree without a supernatural influence ; we cannot have a su-
pernatural influence unless we pray for it ; we cannot pray accept-
ably without repentance and confession. Our Church's strength
would be irresistible, humanly speaking, were it but at unity with
itself: if it remains divided, part against part, we shall see the
energy which was meant to subdue the world preying upon itself,
according to our Saviour's express assurance, that such a house
*' cannot stand." Till we feel this, till we seek one another as breth-
ren, not lightly throwing aside our private opinions, which we seem
to feel we have received from above, from an ill-regulated, untrue
desire of unity, but returning to each other in heart, and coming
b2
4 Introduction.
together to God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, no
change can be for the better. Till [we her children] are stirred
up to this religious course, let the Church ' [our Mother] sit still ;
let [us] be content to be in bondage ; let [us] work in chains ;
let [us] submit to [our] imperfections as a punishment ; let [us]
go on teaching [through the medium of indeterminate statements]'
and inconsistent precedents, and principles but partially de-
veloped. We are not better than our fathers ; let us bear to be
what Hammond was, or Andrews, or Hooker ; let us not faint
under that body of death, which they bore about in patience ; nor
shrink from the penalty of sins, which they inherited from the
age before them *.
But these remarks are beyond our present scope, which is
merely to show that, while our Prayer Book is acknowledged on
all hands to be of Catholic origin, our Articles also, the offspring
of an uncatholic age, are, through God's good providence, to say
the least, not uncatholic, and may be subscribed by those who
aim at being catholic in heart and doctrine. In entering upon
the proposed examination, it is only necessary to add, that in
several places the writer has found it convenient to express him-
self in language recently used, which he is willing altogether to
make his own *. He has distinguished the passages introduced
by quotation marks.
' " Let the Church sit still ; let her be content to be in bondage," &c. — Ist
edition. [The author has lately heard that these words have been taken as
spoken in an insulting and reproachful tone ; he meant them in the sense of
the lines in the Lyra Apostolica, —
" Bide thou thy time !
Watch with meek eyes the race of pride and crime ;
Sit in the gate and be the heathen's jest.
Smiling and self-possest," &c.]
* " With the stammering lips." — 1st edition.
* " We, thy sinful creatures," says the Service for King Charles the Martyr,
" here assembled before Thee, do, in behalf of all the people of this land, hum-
bly confess, that they were the crying sins of this nation, which brought down
this judgment upon us," i. e. King Charles's murder.
' [The passages quoted are the author's own writing on other occasions.]
§ 1. — Holy Scripture and the Authority of the Church.
Articles vi. & xx. — '* Holy Scripture containeth all things ne-
cessary to salvation ; so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor
may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it
should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought
requisite or necessary to salvation The Church hath
[power to decree (statuendi) rites and ceremonies, and] authority
in controversies of faith ; and yet it is not lawful for the Church
to [ordain (instituere) any thing that is contrary to God's word
written, neither may it] so expound one place of Scripture, that
it be repugnant to another. Wherefore, although the Church be
a witness and a keeper of Holy Writ, yet [as it ought not to
decree (decernere) anything against the same, so] besides the
same, ought it not to enforce (obtrudere) anything to be believed
for necessity of salvation °."
Two instruments of Christian teaching are spoken of in these
Articles, Holy Scripture and the Church.
Here then we have to inquire, first, what is meant by Holy
Scripture ; next, what is meant by the Church ; and then, what
their respective offices are in teaching revealed truth, and how
these are adjusted with one another in their actual exercise.
1. Now, what the Church is, will be considered below in
Section 4.
2. And the Books of Holy Scripture are enumerated in the
latter part of the Article, so as to preclude question. Still two
points deserve notice here.
First, the Scriptures or Canonical Books are said to be those
" of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church." Here
it is not meant that there never was any doubt in portions of the
Church or particular Churches concerning certain books, which
the Article includes in the Canon ; for some of them, — as, for
• The passages in brackets relate to rites and ceremonies which are not
here in question. [From brackets marking the Second Edition, must be ex-
cepted those which occur in quotations.]
6 Holy Scripture and the Authority of the Church.
instance, the Epistle to the Hebrews and the Apocalypse — have
been the subject of much doubt in the West or East, as the case
may be. But the Article asserts that there has been no doubt
about them in the Church Catholic ; that is, at the very first
time that the Catholic or whole Church had the opportunity of
forming a judgment on the subject, it pronounced in favour of
the Canonical Books. The Epistle to the Hebrews was doubted
by the West, and the Apocalypse by the East, only while those
portions of the Church investigated separately from each other,
only till they compared notes, interchanged sentiments, and
formed a united judgment. The phrase must mean this, because,
from the nature of the case, it can mean nothing else.
And next, be it observed, that the books which are commonly
called Apocrypha, are not asserted in this Article to be destitute
of inspiration or to be simply human, but to be not canonical ;
in other words, to differ from Canonical Scripture, specially in
this respect, viz. that they are not adducible in proof of doc-
trine. " The other books (as Hierome saith) the Church doth
read for example of life and instruction of manners, but yet doth
not apply them to establish any doctrine." That this is the limit
to which our disparagement of them extends, is plain, not only
because the Article mentions nothing beyond it, but also from the
reverential manner in which the Homilies speak of them, as shall
be incidentally shown in Section 11. [The compatibility of such
reverence with such disparagement is also shown from the feel-
ing towards them of St. Jerome, who is quoted in the Article,
who implies more or less their inferiority to Canonical Scripture,
yet uses them freely and continually, as if Scripture. He dis-
tinctly names many of the books which he considers not canoni-
cal, and virtually names them all by naming what are canonical.
For instance, he says, speaking of Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus,
*' As the Church reads Judith, Tobit, and the Maccabees,
without receiving them among the Canonical Scriptures, so she
reads these two books for the edification of the people, not for
the confirmation of the authority of ecclesiastical doctrines."
{Prcef. in Lihr. Salom.) Again, " The Wisdom, as it is com-
monly styled, of Solomon, and the book of Jesus son of Sirach,
Holy Scripture and the Authority of the Church. 7
and Judith, and Tobias, and the Shepherd, are not in the Canon."
(Prcef. ad Reges.) Such is the language of a writer who never-
theless is, to say the least, not wanting in reverence towards the
books he thus disparages.]
A further question may be asked, concerning our received
version of the Scriptures, whether it is in any sense imposed on
us as a true comment on the original text ; as the Vulgate is
upon the Roman Catholics. It would appear not. It was made
and authorized by royal command, which cannot be supposed
to have any claim upon our interior consent. At the same time
every one who reads it in the Services of the Church, does, of
course, thereby imply that he considers that it contains no deadly
heresy or dangerous mistake. And about its simplicity, majesty,
gravity, harmony, and venerableness, there can be but one
opinion.
3. Next we come to the main point, the adjustment which
this Article effects between the respective offices of the Scripture
and Church : which seems to be as follows.
It is laid down that, 1. Scripture contains all necessary articles
of the faith ; 2. either in its text, or by inference ; 3. The Church
is the keeper of Scripture ; 4. and a witness of it ; 5. and has
authority in controversies of faith ; 6. but may not expound one
passage of Scripture to contradict another ; 7. nor enforce as an
article of faith any point not contained in Scripture.
From this it appears, first, that the Church expounds and enforces
the faith ; for it is forbidden to expound in a particular way, or
so to enforce as to obtrude ; next, that it derives the faith
rcholly from Scripture; thirdly, that its office is to educe an
harmonious interpretation of Scripture. Thus much the Article
settles.
Two important questions, however, it does not settle, viz. whe-
ther the Church judges, first, at her sole discretion, next, on her
sole responsibility; i, e. first, what the media are by which the Church
interprets Scripture, whether by a direct divine gift, or catholic
tradition, or critical exegesis of the text, or in any other way ; and
next, who is to decide whether it interprets Scripture rightly or
not ; — what is her method, if any ; and who is her judge, if any.
8 Holy Scripture and the Authority of the Church.
In other words, not a word is said, on the one hand, in favour of
Scripture having no rule or method to fix interpretation by, or,
as it is commonly expressed, being the sole rule of faith ; nor on
the other, of the private judgment of the individual being the ulti-
mate standard of interpretation. So much has been said lately
on both these points, and indeed on the whole subject of these
two Articles, that it is unnecessary to enlarge upon them ; but
since it is often supposed to be almost a first principle of our
Church, that Scripture is " the rule of faith," it may be well,
before passing on, to make an extract from a paper, published
some years since, which shows, by instances from our divines,
that the application of the phrase to Scripture is but of recent
adoption. The other question, about the ultimate judge of the
interpretation of Scripture, shall not be entered upon.
" We may dispense with the phrase ' Rule of Faith,' as applied
to Scripture, on the ground of its being ambiguous ; and, again,
because it is then used in a novel sense ; for the ancient Church
made the Apostolic Tradition, as summed up in the Creed, and
not the Bible, the Regula Fidei, or Rule. Moreover, its use as
a technical phrase, seems to be of late introduction in the Church,
that is, since the days of King William the Third. Our great
divines use it without any fixed sense, sometimes for Scripture,
sometimes for the whole and perfectly- adjusted Christian doc-
trine, sometimes for the Creed ; and, at the risk of being tedious,
we will prove this, by quotations, that the point may be put
beyond dispute.
" Ussher, after St. Austin, identifies it with the Creed ; — when
speaking of the Article of our Lord's Descent to Hell, he
says, —
" ' It having here likewise been further manifested, what different opinions
have been entertained by the ancient Doctors of the Church, concerning the
determinate place wherein our Saviour's soul did remain during the time of the
separation of it from the body, I leave it to be considered by the learned,
whether any such controverted matter may fitly be brought in to expound the
Rule of Faith, which, being common both to the great and small ones of the
Church, must contain such varieties only as are generally agreed upon by the
common consent of all true Christians.' — Answer to a Jesuit, p. 362,
Holy Scripture and the Authority oj the Church.
" Taylor speaks to the same purpose : ' Let us see with what
constancy that and the following ages of the Church did adhere
to the Apostles' Creed, as the sufficient and perfect Rule of
Faith.' — Dissuasive, part 2, i. 4, p. 470. Elsewhere he calls
Scripture the Rule : ' That the Scripture is a full and sufficient
Rule to Christians in faith and manners, a full and perfect decla-
ration of the Will of God, is therefore certain, because we have
no other.' — Ibid, part 2, i. 2, p. 384. Elsewhere, Scripture and
the Creed : ' He hath, by His wise Providence, preserved the
plain places of Scripture and the Apostles' Creed, in all Churches,
to be the Rule and Measure of Faith, by which all Churches are
saved.' — Ibid, part 2, i. 1, p. 346. Elsewhere he identifies it
with Scripture, the Creeds, and the first four Councils : ' We
also [after Scripture] do believe the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene,
with the additions of Constantinople, and that which is commonly
called the symbol of St. Athanasius ; and the four first General
Councils are so entirely admitted by us, that they, together with
the plain words of Scripture, are made the Rule and Measure
of judging heresies among us.' — Ibid, part 1, i. p. 131.
" Laud calls the Creed, or rather the Creed with Scripture, the
Rule : ' Since the Fathers make the Creed the Rule of Faith;
since the agreeing sense of Scripture with those Articles are the
Two Regular Precepts, by which a divine is governed about his
faith,' &c. — Corference with Fisher, p. 42.
" Bramhall also : * The Scripture and the Creed are not two
different Rules of Faith, but one and the same Rule, dilated in
Scripture, contracted in the Creed.' — Works, p. 402. Stillinor-
fleet says the same {Grounds, i. 4. 3.) ; as does Thorndike (De
Rat. fn. Controv. p. 144, &c.). Elsewhere, Stillingfieet calls
Scripture the Rule (Ibid. i. 6. 2.) ; as does Jackson (vol. i. p.
226). But the most complete and decisive statement on the
subject is contained in Field's work on the Church, from which
shall follow a long extract.
" ' It remained to show,' he says, ' what is the rule of that judgment whereby
the- Church discerneth between truth and falsehood, the faith and heresy, and
to whom it properly pcrtaincth to interpret those things which, touching this
Rule, are doubtful. The Rule of our Faith in general, whereby we know it to
10 Holy Scripture and the Authority of the Church.
be true, is the infinite excellency of God. ... It being pre-supposed in the
generality that the doctrine of the Christian Faith is of God, and containeth
nothing but heavenly truth, in the next place, we are to inquire by what Rule
we are to judge of particular things contained within the compass of it.
" ' This Rule is, 1. The summary comprehension of such principal articles of
this divine knowledge, as are the principles whence all other things are con-
cluded and inferred. These are contained in the Creed of the Apostles.
" ' 2. All such things as every Christian is bound expressly to believe, by the
light and direction whereof he judgeth of other things, which are not absolutely
necessary so particularly to be known. These are rightly said to be the Rule
of our Faith, because the principles of every science are the Rule whereby we
judge of the truth of all things, as being better and more generally known than
any other thing, and the cause of knowing them.
" ' 3. The analogy, due proportion, and correspondence, that one thing in thit
divine knowledge hath with another, so that men cannot err in one of them
without erring in another; nor rightly understand one, but they must likewise
rightly conceive the rest.
" ' 4 Whatsoever 5ooft« were delivered unto us, as written by them, to whom
the first and immediate revelation of the divine truth was made.
'"5. Whatsoever hath been delivered by all the saints with one consent,
which have left their judgment and opinion in writing.
" ' 6. Whatsoever the most famous have constantly and uniformly delivered
as a matter of faith, no one contradicting, though many other ecclesiastical
writers be silent, and say nothing of it.
" ' 7- That which the most, and most famous in every age, constantly delivered
as a matter of faith, and as received of them that went before them, in such sort
that the contradictors and gainsayers were in their beginnings noted for singu-
larity, novelty, and division, and afterwards, in process of time, if they persisted
in such contradiction, charged with heresy.
" ' These three latter Rules of our Faith we admit, not because they are equal
with the former, and originally in themselves contain the direction of our Faith,
but because nothing can be delivered, with such and so full consent of the
people of God, as in them is expressed; but it must need be from those first
authors and founders of our Christian profession. The Romanists add unto
these the decrees of Councils and determinations of Popes, making these also to
be the Rules of Faith ; but because we have no proof of their infallibility, we
number them not with the rest.
" ' Thus we see how many things, in several degrees and sorts, are said to be
Rules of our Faith. The infinite excellency of God, as that whereby the truth
of the heavenly doctrine is proved. The Articles of Faith, and other verities
ever expressly known in the Church as the first principles, are the Canon by
which we judge of conclusions from thence inferred. The Scripture, as con-
taining in it all that doctrine of Faith which Christ the Son of God delivered.
Holy Scripture and the Authority of the Church. 11
The uniform practice and consenting judgment of them that went before us, as
a certain and undoubted explication of the things contained in the Scripture.
.... So, then, we do not make Scripture the Rule of our Faith, hut that other
things in their kind are Rules likewise ; in such sort that it is not safe, without
respect had unto them, to judge things by the Scripture alone,' &c. — iv. 14.
pp. 364, 365.
" These extracts show not only what the Anglican doctrine is,
but, in particular, that the phrase ' Rule of Faith' is no symbolical
expression with us, appropriated to some one sense ; certainly not
as a definition or attribute of Holy Scripture. And it is impor-
tant to insist upon this, from the very great misconceptions to
which the phrase gives rise. Perhaps its use had better be
avoided altogether. In the sense in which it is commonly under-
stood at this day, Scripture, it is plain, is not, on Anglican prin-
ciples, the Rule of Faith."
12
§ 2. — Justification by Faith only.
Article xi. — "That we are justified by Faith only, is a most
■wholesome doctrine."
The Homilies add that Faith is the sole means, the sole instru-
ment of justification. Now, to show briefly what such statements
imply, and what they do not.
1. They do not imply a denial of Baptism as a means and an
instrument of justification ; which the Homilies elsewhere affirm,
as will be shown incidentally in a later section.
" The instrumental power of Faith cannot interfere with the
instrumental power of Baptism ; because Faith is the sole justifier,
not in contrast to all means and agencies whatever, (for it is
not surely in contrast to our Lord's merits, or God's mercy,)
but to all other graces. When, then, Faith is called the sole
instrument, this means the sole internal instrument, not the sole
instrument of any kind.
" There is nothing inconsistent, then, in Faith being the sole
instrument of justification, and yet Baptism also the sole instru-
ment, and that at the same time, because in distinct senses ; an
inward instrument in no way interfering with an outward instru-
ment. Baptism may be the hand of the giver, and Faith the hand
of the receiver."
Nor does the sole instrumentality of Faith interfere with the
doctrine of Works being a mean also. And that it is a mean,
the Homily of Alms-deeds declares in the strongest language, as
will also be quoted in Section 11.
"An assent to the doctrine that Faith alone justifies, does not
at all preclude the doctrine of Works justifying also. If, indeed,
it were said that Works justify in the same sense as Faith only
justifies, this would be a contradiction in terms ; but Faith only
may justify in one sense — Good Works in another : — and this is
all that is here maintained. After all, does not Christ only
justify ? How is it that the doctrine of Faith justifying does not
Justification by Faith only. 13
interfere with our Lord's being the sole Justifier ? It will, of
course, be replied, that our Lord is the meritorious cause, and
Faith the means; that Faith justifies in a different and subor-
dinate sense. As, then, Christ justifies in the sense in which He
justifies alone, yet Faith also justifies in its own sense ; so Works,
whether moral or ritual, may justify us in their own respective
senses, though in the sense in which Faith justifies, it only
justifies. The only question is. What is that sense in which
Works justify, so as not to interfere with Faith only justifying ?
It may, indeed, turn out on inquiry, that the sense alleged will
not hold, either as being unscriptural, or for any other reason :
but, whether so or not, at any rate the apparent inconsistency of
language should not startle persons ; nor should they so promptly
condemn those who, though they do not use their language, use
St. James's. Indeed, is not this argument the very weapon of
the Arians, in their warfare against the Son of God 1 They
said, Christ is not God, because the Father is called the
' Only God.' "
2. Next we have to inquire in what sense Faith only does
justify. In a number of ways, of which here two only shall be
mentioned.
First, it is the pleading or impetrating principle, or constitutes
our title to justification ; being analogous among the graces to
Moses lifting up his hands on the Mount, or the Israelites eyeing
the Brazen Serpent, — actions which did not merit God's mercy,
but asked for it. A number of means go to effect our justifi-
cation. We are justified by Christ alone, in that He has
purchased the gift ; by Faith alone, in that Faith asks for it ; by
Baptism alone, for Baptism conveys it ; and by newness of heart
alone, for newness of heart is the life of it.
And secondly. Faith as being the beginning of perfect or
justifying righteousness, is taken from what it tends towards, or
ultimately will be. It is said by anticipation to be that which
it promises ; just as one might pay a labourer his hire before he
began his work. Faith working by love is the seed of divine
graces, which in due time will be brought forth and flourish —
partly in this world, fully in the next.
14
§ 3. — Works before and after Justification.
Articles xii. &xiii. — " Works done before the grace of Christ,
and the inspiration of His Spirit, ['before justification,' title of
the Article,'] are not pleasant to God (minime Deo grata sunt) ;
forasmuch as they spring not of Faith in Jesus Christ, neither
do they make man meet to receive grace, or (as the school
authors say) deserve grace of congruity (merentur gratiam de
congruo) ; yea, rather for that they are not done as God hath
willed and commanded them to be done, we doubt not but they
have the nature of sin. Albeit good works, which are the fruits
of faith, and follow after justification (justificatos sequuntur),
cannot put away (expiare) our sins, and endure the severity of
God's judgment, yet are they pleasing and acceptable (grata et
accepta) to God in Christ, and do spring out necessarily of a
true and lively Faith."
Two sorts of works are here mentioned — works before justifi-
cation, and works after ; and they are most strongly contrasted
with each other.
1. Works before justification, are done " before the grace of
Christ, and the inspiration of His Spirit."
2. Works before, "do not spring of Faith in Jesus Christ;"
works after are *' the fruits of Faith."
3. Works before " have the nature of sin ;" works after are
" good works."
4. Works before " are not pleasant (grata) to God ;" works
after "are pleasing and acceptable (grata et accepta) to God."
Two propositions, mentioned in these Articles, remain, and
deserve consideration. First, that works before justification do
not make or dispose men to receive grace, or, as the school
writers say, deserve grace of congruity ; secondly, that works
after " cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of
God's judgment."
1. As to the former statement, — to deserve de congruo, or of
congruity, is to move the divine regard, not from any claim upon
Works before and after Justification. 15
it, but from a certain fitness or suitablen ess ; as, for instance, it
might be said that dry wood had a certain disposition or fitness
towards heat which green wood had not. Now, the Article
denies that works done before the grace of Christ, or in a
mere state of nature, in this way dispose towards grace, or
move God to grant grace. And it asserts, with or without
reason, (for it is a question of historical fact, which need not
specially concern us,) that certain schoolmen maintained the
afiirmative.
Now, that this is what it means, is plain from the following
passages of the Homilies, which in no respect have greater claims
upon us than as comments upon the Articles : —
" Therefore they that teach repentance without a lively faith in our Saviour
Jesus Christ, do teach none other but Judas's repentance, as all the schoolmen
do, which do ovly allow these three parts of repentance, — the contrition of the
heart, the confession of the mouth, and the satisfaction of the work. But all
these things we find in Judas's repentance, which, in outward appearance,
did far exceed and pass the repentance of Peter. . . . This was commonly
the penance which Christ enjoined sinners, ' Go thy way, and sin no more;'
wliich penance we shall never be able to fulfil, without the special grace of Him
that doth say, ' Without Me, ye can do nothing.' " — On Repentance, p. 460.
To take a passage which is still more clear : —
" As these examples are not brought in to the end that we should thereby
take a boldness to sin, presuming on the mercy and goodness of God, but to the
end that, if, through the frailness of our own flesh, and the temptation of the
devil, we fall into the like sins, we should in no wise despair of the mercy and
goodness of God : even so must we beware and take heed, that we do in no
wise think in our hearts, imagine, or believe that we are able to repent aright
or to turn effectually unto the Lord hy our own might and strength" —
Ibid., part i. fin.
The Article contemplates these two states, — one of justifying
grace, and one of the utter destitution of grace ; and it says, that
those who are in utter destitution cannot do anything to gain
justification ; and, indeed, to assert the contrary would be
Pelagianisra. However, there is an intermediate state, of which
the Article says nothing, but which must not be forgotten, as
being an actually existing one. Men are not always either in
light or in darkness, but are sometimes between the two ; they are
sometimes not in a state of Christian justification, yet not utterly
16 Works before and after Justification.
deserted by God, but in a state something like that of Jews or of
Heathen, turning to the thought of reh'gion. They are not gifted
with habitual grace, but they still are visited by divine influences,
or hy actual grace, or rather aid; and these influences are the
first-fruits of the grace of justification going before it, and are
intended to lead on to it, and to be perfected in it, as twilight leads
to day. And since it is a Scripture maxim, that " he that is faith-
ful in that which is least, is faithful also in much ;" and " to who-
soever hath, to him shall be given ;" therefore it is quite true that
works done with divine aid, and in faith, 6e/brejustification,cfo dis-
pose men to receive the grace of justification ; — such were Cor-
nelius's alms, fastings, and prayers, which led to his baptism. At
the same time it must be borne in mind that, even in such cases,
it is not the works themselves which make them meet, as some
schoolmen seem to have said, but the secret aid of God, vouch-
safed, equally with the " grace and Spirit," which is the portion
of the baptized, for the merits of Christ's sacrifice.
[But it may be objected, that the silence observed in the Article
about a state between that of justification and grace, and that of
neither, is a proof that there is none such. This argument, how-
ever, would prove too much ; for in like manner there is a silence
in the Sixth Article about a judge of the scripturalness of doctrine,
yet a judge there must be. And, again, few, it is supposed, would
deny that Cornelius, before the angel came to him, was in a more
hopeful state, than Simon Magus or Felix. The diflaculty then,
if there be one, is common to persons of whatever school of
opinion.]
2. If works before justification, when done by the influence of
divine aid, gain grace, much more do works after justification.
They are, according to the Article, " grata," " pleasing to God ;"
and they are accepted, " accepta ;" which means that God
rewards them, and that of course according to their degree of
excellence. At the same time, as works before justification may
nevertheless be done under a divine influence, so works after
justification are still liable to the infection of original sin ; and, as
not being perfect, " cannot expiate our sins," or " endure the
severity of God's judgment."
17
§ A.— The Visible Church.
Art. xix. — *' The visible Church of Christ is a congregation of
faithful men (coetus fidelium), in the which the pure Word of
God is preached, and the Sacraments be duly ministered, accord-
ing to Christ's ordinance, in all those things that of necessity-
are requisite to the same."
This is not an abstract definition of a Church, but a descrip-
tion of the actually existing One Holy Catholic Church diffused
throughout the world ; as if it were read, " The Church is a
certain society of the faithful," &c. This is evident from the mode
of describing the Catholic Church, familiar to all writers from the
first ages down to the age of this Article. For instance, St. Clement
of Alexandria says, " I mean by the Church, not a place, but the
congregation of the elect." Origen : " The Church, the assembly
of all the faithful.'" St. Ambrose : " One congregation, one
Church." St. Isidore : '* The Church is a congregation of saints,
collected on a certain faith, and the best conduct of life." St.
Augustin : " The Church is the people of God through all ages."
Again : " The Church is the multitude which is spread over the
whole earth." St. Cyril : " When we speak of the Church, we
denote the most holy multitude of the pious." Theodoret : "The
Apostle calls the Church the assembly of the faithful." Pope
Gregory : " The Church, a multitude of the faithful collected of
both sexes." Bede : " The Church is the congregation of all
saints." Alcuin : " The Holy Catholic Church, — in Latin, the
congregation of the faithful." Amalarius : *' The Church is the
people called together by the Church's ministers." Pope Nicolas T. :
*' The Church, that is, the congregation of Catholics." St. Ber-
nard ; " What is the Spouse, but the congregation of the just ?"
Peter the Venerable : " The Church is called a congregation,
but not of all things, not of cattle, but of men, faithful, good,
just. Though bad among these good, and just among the
unjust, are revealed or concealed, yet it is called a Church."
VOL. VI. — 90. c
18 The Visible Church.
Hugo Vicforinuis : " The Holy Church, that is, the university of
the faithful." Arnulphus : " The Church is called the congre-
gation of the faithful." Albertus Magnus : " The Greek word
church means in Latin convocation ; and whereas works and
callings belong to rational animals, and reason in man is inward
faith, therefore it is called the congregation of the faithful."
Durandus : " The Church is in one sense material, in which
divers offices are celebrated ; in another spiritual, which is the
collection of the faithful." Alvarus : " The Church is the mul-
titude of the faithful, or the university of Christians." Pope
Pius II. : "The Church is the multitude of the faithful dispersed
through all nations \" [And so the Reformers, in their own way ;
for instance, the Confession of Augsburgh. " The one Holy
Church will remain for ever. Now the Church of Christ pro-
perly is the congregation of the members of Christ, that is, of
saints who truly believe and obey Christ ; though with this con-
gregation many bad and hypocrites are mixed in this life, till the
last judgment." vii. — And the Saxon : "We say then that the
visible Church in this life is an assembly of those who embrace
the Gospel of Christ and rightly use the Sacraments," &c. xii.]
These illustrations of the phraseology of the Article may be
multiplied in any number. And they plainly show that it is not
laying down any logical definition what a Church is, but is des-
cribing, and, as it were, pointing to the Catholic Church diffused
throughout the world ; which, being but one, cannot possibly be
mistaken, and requires no other account of it beyond this single
and majestic one. The ministration of the Word and Sacraments
is mentioned as a further note of it. As to the question of its
limits, whether Episcopal Succession or whether intercommunion
with the whole be necessary to each part of it, — these are ques-
tions, most important indeed, but of detail, and are not expressly
treated of in the Articles.
This view is further illustrated by the following passage from
the Homily for Whitsunday : —
" Our Saviour Christ, departing out of the world unto His Father, promised
* These instances are from Launoy.
The Visible Church. ]^
His Disciples to send down another Comforter, that should continue with
them for ever, and direct them into all truth. Which thing, to be faithfully and
truly performed, the Scriptures do sufficiently bear witness. Neither must we
think that this Comforter was either promised, or else given, only to the
Apostles, but also to the universal Church of Christ, dispersed through the
whole world. For, unless the Holy Ghost had been always present, governing
and preserving the Church from the beginning, it could never have suffered so
many and great brunts of affliction and persecution, with so little damage and
harm as it hath. And the words of Christ are most plain in this behalf,
saying, that ' the Spirit of Truth should abide with them for ever ;' that ' He
would be with them always (He meaneth by grace, virtue, and power) even to
the world's end.'
" Also in the prayer that He made to His Father a little before His death,
He maketh intercession, not only for Himself and His Apostles, but indifferently
for all them that should believe in Him through their words, that is, to wit, for
His whole Church. Again, St. Paul saith, * If any man have not the Spirit of
Christ, the same is not His.' Also, in the words following : ' We have received
the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.' Hereby, then, it is
evident and plain to all men, that the Holy Ghost was given, not only to
the Apostles, but also to the whole body of Christ's congregation, although not
in like form and majesty as He came down at the feast of Pentecost. But now
herein standeth the controversy, — whether all men do justly arrogate to them-
selves the Holy Ghost, or no. The Bishops of Rome have for a long time
made a sore challenge thereto, reasoning with themselves after this sort : ' The
Holy Ghost,' say they, ' was promised to the Church, and never forsaketh
the Church. But we are the chief heads and the principal part of the Church,
therefore we have the Holy Ghost for ever: and whatsoever things we decree
are undoubted verities and oracles of the Holy Ghost.' That ye may per-
ceive the weakness of this argument, it is needful to teach you, first, what the
true Church of Christ is, and then to confer the Church of Rome therewith,
to discern how well they agree together. The true Church is an universal con-
gregation or fellowship of God's faithful and elect people, built upon the founda-
tion of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the head
corner-stone. And it hath always three notes or marks, whereby it is known :
pure and sound doctrine, the Sacraments ministered according to Christ's
holy institution, and the right use of ecclesiastical discipline. This description
of the Church is agreeable both to the Scriptures of God, and also to the doc-
trine of the ancient Fathers, so that none may justly find fault therewith.
Now, if you will compare this with the Church of Rome, not as it was in the
beginning, but as it is at present, and hath been for the space of nine hundred
years and odd ; you shall well perceive the state thereof to be so far wide from
the nature of the Church, that nothing can be more."
This passage is quoted, not for all it contains, but in that
c2
20 The Visible Church.
respect in which it claims attention, viz. as far as it is an illustra-
tion of the Article. It is speaking of the one Catholic Church,
not of an abstract idea of a Church, which may be multiplied in-
definitely in fact; and it uses the same terms of it which the
Article does of " the visible Church." It says that " the true
Church is an universal congregation or fellowship of God's faithful
and elect people," &c., which as closely corresponds to the coeius
fidelium, or " congregation of faithful men" of the Article, as the
above descriptions from Fathers or Divines do. Therefore, the
ccetus Jidelium spoken of in the Article is not a definition, which
kirk, or connexion, or other communion may be made to fall
under, but the enunciation of a fact.
21
§ 5. — General Councils,
Article xxi. — " General councils may not be gathered together
•without the commandment and will of princes. And when they
he gathered together, forasmuch as they be an assembly of men,
whereof all be not governed with the Spirit and Word of God,
they may err, and sometimes have erred, in things pertaining to
God."
That great bodies of men, of different countries, may not meet
together without the sanction of their rulers, is plain from the
principles of civil obedience and from primitive practice. That,
when met together, though Christians, they will not be all ruled
by the Spirit or Word of God, is plain from our Lord's parable
of the net, and from melancholy experience. That bodies of men,
deficient in this respect, may err, is a self-evident truth, — unless,
indeed, they be favoured with some divine superintendence, which
has to be proved, before it can be admitted.
General councils then may err, [as such ; — may err, j unless in
any case it is promised, as a matter of express supernatural pri-
vilege, that they shall 7iot err ; a case which [as consisting in the
fulfilment of additional or subsequent conditions,] lies beyond the
scope of this Article,^ or at any rate beside its determination.
Such a promise, however, does exist, in cases when general
councils are not only gathered together according to " the com-
mandment and will of princes," but in the Name of Christ,
according to our Lord's promise. The Article merely contem-
plates the human prince, not the King of Saints. While councils
are a thing of earth, their infallibility of course is not guaranteed ;
when they are a thing of heaven, their deliberations are overruled,
and their decrees authoritative. In such cases they are Catholic
councils ; and it would seem, from passages which will be quoted
in Section 11, that the Homilies recognize four, or even six, as
bearing this character. Thus Catholic or Oecumenical Councils
are general councils, and something more. Some general councils
22 General Councils.
are Catholic, and others are not. Nay, as even Romanists grant,
the same councils may be partly Catholic, partly not.
If Catholicity be thus a quality, found at times in general
councils, rather than the differentia belonging to a certain class
of them, it is still less surprising that the Article should be silent
about it.
What those conditions are, which fulfil the notion of a gathering
" in the Name of Christ," in the case of a particular council,
it is not necessary here to determine. Some have included
among these conditions, the subsequent reception of its decrees
by the universal Church; others, a ratification by the pope.
Another of these conditions, however, the Article goes on to
mention, viz. that in points necessary to salvation, a council
should prove its decrees by Scripture.
St. Gregory Nazianzen well illustrates the consistency of this
Article with a belief in the infallibility of CEcumenical Councils,
by his own language on the subject on different occasions.
In the following passage he anticipates the Article : —
" My mind is, if I must write the truth, to keep clear of every conference of
bishops, for of conference never saw I good come, or a remedy so much as an
increase of evils. For there is strife and ambition, and these have the upper
hand of reason." — Ep. 55.
Yet, on the other hand, he speaks elsewhere of " the Holy
Council in Nicaea, and that band of chosen men whom the Holy
Ghost brought together." — Orat. 21.
23
§ 6. — Purgatory, Pardons, Images, Relics, Invocation of Saints.
Article xxii. — " The Romish doctrine concerning purgatory,
pardons (de indulgentiis), worshipping (de veneratione) and
adoration, as well of images as of relics, and also invocation of
saints, is a fond thing (res est futilis) vainly (inaniter) invented,
and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repug-
nant (contradicit) to the Word of God."
Now the first remark that occurs on perusing this Article is,
that the doctrine objected to is " the Romish doctrine." For
instance, no one would suppose that the Calvinistic doctrine con-
cerning purgatory, pardons, and image-worship, is spoken against.
Not every doctrine on these matters is a fond thing, but the
Romish doctrine. Accordingly, the Primitive doctrine is not
condemned in it, unless, indeed, the Primitive doctrine be the
Romish, which must not be supposed. Now there was a primi-
tive doctrine on all these points, — how far Catholic or universal,
is a further question, — but still so widely received and so re-
spectably supported, that it may well be entertained as a matter
of opinion by a theologian now ; this, then, whatever be its merits,
is not condemned by this Article.
This is clear without proof on the face of the matter, at least as
regards pardons. Of course, the Article never meant to make
light of every doctrine about pardons, but a certain doctrine,
the Romish doctrine, [as indeed the plural form itself shows.]
And [such an understanding of the Article is supported by]
some sentences in the Homily on Peril of Idolatry, in which,
as far as regards relics, a certain " veneration" is sanctioned by
its tone in speaking of them, though not of course the Romish
veneration.
The sentences referred to run as follow : —
" In the Tripartite Ecclesiastical History, the Ninth Book, and Forty-eighth
Chapter, is testified, that ' Epiphanius, being yet alive, did work miracles : and
that after his death, devils being expelled at his grave or tomb, did roar.' Thus
you see what authority St. Jerome (who has just been mentioned) and tiiat most
ancient history give unto the holy and learned Bishop Epiphanius."
24 Purgatory, Pardons, Images,
Again: —
" St. Ambrose, in his Treatise of the Death of Theodosius the Emperor, saith,
' Helena found the Cross, and the title on it. She worshipped the King, and
not the wood, surely (for that is an heathenish error and the vanity of the
wicked), but she worshipped Him that hanged on the Cross, and whose Name
was written on the title,' and so forth. See both the godly empress's fact, and
St. Ambrose's judgment at once ; they thought it had been an heathenish error,
and vanity of the wicked, to have worshipped the Cross itself, which was emhrued
with our Saviour Christ's own precious blood." — Peril of Idolatry, part 2,
circ. init.
In these passages the writer does not positively commit him-
self to the miracles at Epiphanius's tomb, or the discovery of
the true Cross, but he evidently wishes the hearer to think he
believes in both. This he would not do, if he thought all honour
paid to relics wrong.
If, then, in the judgment of the Homilies, not all doctrine con-
cerning veneration of relics is condemned in the Article before us,
but a certain toleration of them is compatible with its wording ;
neither is all doctrine concerning purgatory, pardons, images, and
saints, condemned by the Article, but only " the Romish."
And further, by " the Romish doctrine," is not meant the Tri-
dentine [statement], because this Article was drawn up before the
decree of the Council of Trent, What is opposed is the received
doctrine of the day, and unhappily of this day too, or the doctrine
of the Roman schools ; a conclusion which is still more clear, by
considering that there are portions in the Tridentine [statements]
on these subjects, which the Article, far from condemning, by anti-
cipation approves, as far as they go. For instance, the Decree
of Trent enjoins concerning purgatory thus ; — " Among the un-
educated vulgar let difficult and subtle questions, which make not
for edification, and seldom contribute aught towards piety, be
kept back from popular discourses. Neither let them suffer
the public mention and treatment of uncertain points, or such
as look like falsehood" Session 25. Again, about images:
" Due honour and veneration is to be paid unto them, not that
ne believe that any divinity or virtue is in them, for which
they should be worshipped (colendse), or that we should ask
any thing of them, or that trust should be reposed in images,
Relics, Invocation of Saints. 25
as fonnerly was done by the Gentiles, which used to place their
hope on idols." — Ihid.
If, then, the doctrine condemned in this Article concerning
purgatory, pardons, images, relics, and saints, be not the Primi-
tive doctrine, nor the Catholic doctrine, nor the Tridentine [state-
ment], but the Romish, doctrina Romanensium, let us next con-
sider what in matter of fact it is. And,
1 . As to the doctrine of the Romanists concerning Purgatory.
Now here there was a primitive doctrine, whatever its merits,
concerning the fire of judgment, which is a possible or a probable
opinion, and is not condemned. That doctrine is this ; that the
conflagration of the world, or the flames which attend the Judge,
will be an ordeal through which all men will pass ; that great
saints, such as St. Mary, will pass it unharmed ; that others will
suffer loss ; but none will fail under it who are built upon
the right foundation. Here is one [purgatorian doctrine] not
" Romish."
Another doctrine, purgatorian, but not Romish, is that said to
be maintained by the Greeks at Florence, in which the cleansing,
though a punishment, was but a poena damni, not a poena sensus ;
not a positive sensible infliction, much less the torment of fire,
but the absence of God's presence. And another purgatory is
that in which the cleansing is but a progressive sanctification,
and has no pain at all.
None of these doctrines does the Article condemn ; any of them
may be held by the Anglo- Catholic as a matter of private belief;
not that they are here advocated, one or other, but they are
adduced as an illustration of what the Article does not mean, and
to vindicate our Christian liberty in a matter where the Church
has not confined it.
[For what the doctrine which is reprobated is, we might refer,
in the first place, to the Council of Florence, where a decree was
passed on the subject, were not that decree almost as vague as
the Tridentine ; viz., that deficiency of penance is made up by
pceruie purgatorice.^
" Now doth St. Augustine say, that those men which are cast into prison
after this life, on that condition, may in no wise he holpen, though we would
help them never so much. And why ? Because the sentence of God is
26 Purgatory.
unchangeable, and cannot be revoked again. Therefore, let us not deceive
ourselves, thinking that either we may help others, or others may help us, by
their good and charitable prayers in time to come. For, as the preacher saith,
' When the tree falleth, whether it be toward the south, or toward the north, in
what place soever the tree falleth, there it lieth :' meaning thereby, that every
mortal man dieth either in the slate of salvation or damnation, according as the
words of the Evangelist John do plainly import, saying, ' He that believelh on
the Son of God hath eternal life ; but he that believeth not on the Son, shall
never see life, but the wrath of God abideth upon him,' — where is then the
third place, which they call purgatory ? Or where shall our prayers help and
profit the dead ? St. Augustine doth only acknowledge two places after this
life, heaven and hell. As for the third place, he doth plainly deny that there
is any such to be found in all Scripture. Chrysostom likewise is of this mind,
that unless we wash away our sins in this present world, we shall find no com-
fort afterward. And St, Cyprian saith that, after death, repentance and sorrow
of pain shall be without fruit, weeping also shall be in vain, and prayer shall be
to no purpose. Therefore he counselleth all men to make provision for them-
selves while they may, because, when they are once departed out of this life,
there is no place for repentance, nor yet for satisfaction." — Homily concerning
Prayer, pp. 282, 283.
Now it [would seem] from this passage, that the Purgatory
contemplated by the Homily was one for which no one will for
an instant pretend to adduce even those Fathers who most favour
Rome, viz, one in which our state mould be changed, in which
God's sentence could be reversed. " The sentence of God," says
the writer, " is unchangeable, and cannot be revoked again ; there
is no place for repentance." On the other hand, the Council of
Trent, and Augustin and Cyprian, so far as they express or
imply any opinion approximating to that of the Council, held
Purgatory to be a place for believers, not unbelievers, not where
men who have lived and died in God's wrath, may gain pardon,
but where those who have already been pardoned in this life,
may be cleansed and purified for beholding the face of God.
The Homily, then, and therefore the Article [as far as the Homily
may be taken to explain it], does not speak of the Tridentine
purgatory.
The mention of Prayers for the dead in the above passage,
affords an additional illustration of the limited and [relative]
sense of the terms of the Article now under consideration. For
such prayers are obviously not condemned in it in the abstract, or
in every shape, but as offered to rescue the lost from eternal fire.
Purgatory. 2f
[Hooker, in his Sermon on Pride, gives us a second view of the
" Romish doctrine of Purgatory," from the schoolmen. After
speaking of the po?wa damni, he says —
" The other punishment, which hath in it not only loss of joy, but also sense
of grief, vexation, and woe, is that whereunto they give the name of purgatory
pains, in nothing different from those very infernal torments which the souls of
castaways, together with damiied spirits do endure, save only in this, there is an
appointed term to the one, to the other none ; but for the time they last they
are equal" — Vol. iii. p. 798.]
Such doctrine, too, as the following may well be included in
that which the Article condemns under the name of " Romish."
The passage to be quoted has already appeared in these Tracts.
" In the * Speculum Exemplorum' it is said, that a certain priest, in an
ecstasy, saw the soul of Constantius Turritanus in the eaves of his house, tor-
mented with frosts and cold rains, and afterwards climbing up to heaven upon
a shining pillar. And a certain monk saw some souls roasted upon spits like
pigs, and some devils basting them with scalding lard ; but a while after, they
were carried to a cool place, and so proved purgatory. But Bishop Theobald,
standing upon a piece of ice to cool his feet, was nearer purgatory than he was
aware, and was convinced of it, when he heard a poor soul telling him, that
under that ice he was tormented ; and that he should be delivered, if for thirty
days continual, he would say for him thirty masses. And some such thing was
seen by Conrade and Udalric in a pool of water; for the place of purgatory was
not yet resolved on, till St. Patrick had the key of it delivered to him, which
when one Nicholas borrowed of him, he saw as strange and true things there, as
ever Virgil dreamed of in his purgatory, or Cicero in his dream of Scipio, or
Plato in his Gorgias, or Phaedo, who indeed are the surest authors to prove
purgatory. But because to preach false stories was forbidden by the Council of
Trent, there are yet remaining more certain arguments, even revelations made
by angels, and the testimony of St. Odilio himself, who heard the devil complain
(and he had great reason surely), that the souls of dead men were daily snatched
out of his hands, by the alms and prayers of the living; and the sister of St.
Damianus, being too much pleased with hearing of a piper, told her brother,
that she was to be tormented for fifteen days in purgatory.
" We do not think that the wise men in the Church of Rome believe these
narratives; for if they did, they were not wise ; but this we know, that by such
stories the people were brought into a belief of it, and having served their turn
of them, the master builders used them as false arches and centries, taking them
away when the parts of the building were made firm and stable by authority."
— Jer. Taylor, Works, vol. x. pp. 151, 152.
Another specimen of doctrine, which no one will attempt to
prove from Scripture, is the following : —
28 Purgatory.
" Eastwardly, between two walls, was a vast place of purgatory fixed, and
beyond it a pond to rinse souls in that had waded through purgatory, the water
being salt and cold beyond comparison. Over this purgatory St. Nicholas was
the owner.
" There was a mighty bridge, all beset with nails and spikes, and leading to
the mount of joy ; on which mount was a stately church, seemingly capable to
contain all the inhabitants of the world, and into which the souls were no sooner
entered, but that they forgot all their former torments.
" Returning to the first church, there they found St. Michael the Archangel
and the Apostles Peter and Paul. St. Michael caused all the white souls to
pass througli the flames, unharmed, to the mount of joy ; and those that had
black and white spots, St. Peter led into purgatory to be purified.
" In one part sate St. Paul, and the devil opposite to him with his guards,
with a pair of scales between them, weighing all such souls as were all over
black ; when upon turning a soul, the scale turned towards St. Paul, he sent it
to purgatory, there to expiate its sins ; when towards the devil, his crew, with
great triumph, plunged it into the flaming pit
" The rustic likewise saw near the entrance of the town-hall, as it were, four
streets ; the first was full of innumerable furnaces and cauldrons filled with
flaming pitch and other liquids, and boiling of souls, whose heads were like those
of black fishes in the seething liquor. The second had its cauldrons stored with
snow and ice, to torment souls with horrid cold. The third had thereof boiling
sulphur and other materials, affording the worst of stinks, for the vexing of
souls that had wallowed in the filth of lust. The fourth had cauldrons of a most
horrid salt and black water. Now sinners of all sorts were alternately tormented
in these cauldrons." — Purgatory proved by Miracle, by S. Johnson, pp. 8 — 10.
[Let it be considered, then, whether on the whole the " Romish
doctrine of Purgatory," which the Article condemns, and which
was generally believed in the Roman Church three centuries
since, as well as now, viewed in its essence, be not the doctrine,
that the punishment of unrighteous Christians is temporary, not
eternal, and that the purification of the righteous is a portion
of the same punishment, together with the superstitions, and
impostures for the sake of gain, consequent thereupon.]
2. Pardons, or Indulgences.
The history of the rise of the Reformation will interpret " the
Romish doctrine concerning pardons," without going further.
Burnet thus speaks on the subject.
" In the primitive church there were very severe rules made, obliging all that
had sinned publicly (and they were afterwards applied to such as had sinned
secretly) to continue for many years in a state of separation from the Sacrament,
Pardons. 29
and of penance and discipline. But because all such general rules admit of a
great variety of circumstances, taken from men's sins, their persons, and their
repentance, there was a power given to all Bishops, by the Council of Nice, to
shorten the time, and to relax the severity of those Canons, and such favour as
they saw cause to grant, was called indulgence. This was just and necessary,
and was a provision without which no constitution or society can be well
governed. But after the tenth century, as the Popes came to take this power
in the whole extent of it into their own hands, so they found it too feeble to
carry on the great designs that they grafted upon it.
" They gave it high names, and called it a plenary remission, and the pardon
of all sins : which the world was taught to look on as a thing of a much higher
nature, than the bare excusing of men from discipline and penance. Purgatory
was then got to be firmly believed, and all men were strangely possessed with
the terror of it : so a deliverance from purgatory, and by consequence an imme-
diate admission into heaven, was believed to be the certain effect of it. Multi-
tudes were, by these means, engaged to go to the Holy Land, to recover it out
of the hands of the Saracens ; afterwards they armed vast numbers against
the heretics, to extirpate them : they fought also all those quarrels, which their
ambitious pretensions engaged them in, with emperors and other princes, by
the same pay ; and at last they set it to sale with the same impudence, and
almost with the same methods, that mountebanks use in venting of their
secrets.
" This was so gross, even in an ignorant age, and among the ruder sort, that
it gave the first rise to the Reformation : and as the progress of it was a very
signal work of God, so it was in a great measure owing to the scandals that this
shameless practice had given the world." — Burnet on Article XIV. p. 190.
Again : —
" The virtue of indulgences is the applying the treasure of the Church upon
such terms as Popes shall think fit to prescribe, in order to the redeeming souls
from purgatory, and from all other temporal punishments, and that for such a
number of years as shall be specified in the bulls ; some of which have gone to
thousands of years; one I have seen to ten hundred thousand: and as these
indulgences are sometimes granted by special tickets, like tallies struck on that
treasure ; so sometimes they are aflBxed to particular churches and altars, to
particular times, or days, chiefly to the year of jubilee ; they are also aflixed to
such things as may be carried about, to Agnus Dei's, to medals, to rosaries, and
scapularies ; they are also afiixed to some .prayers, the devout saying of them
being a mean to procure great indulgences. The granting these is left to the
Pope'a discretion, who ought to distribute them as he thinks may tend most to
the honour of God and the good of the Church ; and he ought not to be too
profuse, much less to be too scanty in dispensing them.
" This has been the received doctrine and practice of the Church of Rome
since the twelfth century : and the Council of Trent, in a hurry, in iU last
session, did, in very general words, appiove of the practice of the Church in this
80 Pardons.
matter, and decreed that indulgences should be continued ; only they restrained
some abuses, in particular that of selling them." — Burnet on Article XXII.
p. 305.
Burnet goes on to maintain that the act of the Council was in-
complete and evaded. If it be necessary to say more on the sub-
ject, let us attend to the following passage from Jeremy Taylor : —
" I might have instanced in worse matters, made by the Popes of Rome to
be pious works, the condition of obtaining indulgences. Such as was the bull
of Pope Julius the Second, giving indulgence to him that meeting a French-
man should kill him, and another for the killing of a Venetian I desire
this only instance may be added to it, that Pope Paul the Third, he that con-
vened the Council of Trent, and Julius the Third, for fear, as I may suppose,
the Council should forbid any more such follies, for a farewell to this game,
gave an indulgence to the fraternity of the Sacrament of the Altar, or of the
Blessed Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ, of such a vastness and unreasonable
folly, that it puts us beyond the question of religion, to an inquiry, whether it
were not done either in perfect distraction, or, with a worse design, to make
religion to be ridiculous, and to expose it to a contempt and scorn. The condi-
tions of the indulgence are, either to visit the Church of St. Hilary of Chartres,
to say a ' Pater Noster' and an ' Ave Mary' every Friday, or, at most, to be
present at processions and other divine service upon ' Corpus Christi day.' The
gift is — as many privileges, indults, exemptions, liberties, immunities, plenary
pardons of sins, and other spiritual graces, as were given to the fraternity of the
Image of our Saviour ' ad Sancta Sanctorum ;' the fraternity of the charity
and great hospital of St. James in Augusta, of St. John Baptist, of St. Cosmas
and Damianus; of the Florentine nation; of the hospital of the Holy Ghost
in Saxia ; of the order of St. Austin and St. Champ ; of the fraternities of the
said city ; of the churches of our Lady ' de populo et verbo ;' and all those that
were ever given to them that visited these churches, or those which should ever
be given hereafter ; — a pretty large gift ! in which there were so many pardons,
quarter-pardons, half-pardons, true pardons, plenary pardons, quarantines, and
years of quarantines ; that it is a harder thing to number them, than to purchase
them. I shall remark in these some particulars to be considered.
" 1. That a most scandalous and unchristian dissolution and death of all
ecclesiastical discipline, is consequent to the making all sin so cheap and trivial
a thing ; that the horrible demerits and exemplary punishment and remotion of
scandal and satisfactions to the Church, are indeed reduced to trifling and mock
penances. He that shall send a servant with a candle to attend the Holy Sacra-
ment, when it shall be carried to sick people, or shall go himself; or, if he can
neither go nor send, if he say a ' Pater Noster' and an ' Ave,' he shall have a
hundred years of true pardon. This is fair and easy. But then,
" 2. It would be considered what is meant by so many years of pardon, and
so many years of true pardon. I know but of one natural interpretation of it;
and that it can mean nothing, but that some of the pardons are but fantastical,
Images and Relics. 31
and not true ; and in this I find no fault, save only that it ought to have been
said, that all of them are fantastical.
" 3. It were fit we learned how to compute four thousand and eight hundred
years of quarantines, and a remission of a third part of all their sins ; for so
much is given to every brother and sister of this fraternity, upon Easter-day,
and eight days after. Now if a brother needs not thus many, it would be con-
sidered whether it did not encourage a brother or a frail sister to use all their
medicine, and sin more freely, lest so great a gift become useless.
" 4. And this is so much the more considerable, because the gift is vast
beyond all imagination. The first four days in Lent they may purchase thirty-
three thousand years of pardon, besides a plenary remission of all their sins over
and above. The first week of Lent a hundred and three-and-thirty thousand
years of pardon, besides five plenary remissions of all their sins, and two third
parts besides, and the delivery of one soul out of purgatory. The second week
in Lent a hundred and eight-and-fifty thousand years of pardon, besides the
remission of all their sins, and a third part besides; and the delivery of one
soul. The third week in Lent, eighty thousand years, besides a plenary remis-
sion, and the delivery of one soul out of purgatory. The fourth week in Lent,
threescore thousand years of pardon, besides a remission of two-thirds of all
their sins, and one plenary remission, and one soul delivered. The fifth week,
seventy-nine thousand years of pardon, and the deliverance of two souls : only
the two thousand seven hundred years that are given for the Sunday, may be
had twice that day, if they will visit the altar twice, and as many quarantines.
The sixth week, two hundred and five thousand years, besides quarantines, and
four plenary pardons. Only on Palm Sunday, whose portion is twenty-five
thousand years, it may be had twice that day. And all this is the price of him
that shall, upon these days, visit the altar in the church of St. Hilary. And
this runs on to the Fridays, and many festivals, and other solemn days in the
other parts of the year."-^Jer. Taylor, vol. xi. p. 53 — 56.
[The doctrine then of pardons, spoken of in the Article, is
the doctrine maintained and acted on in the Roman Church, that
remission of the penalties of sin in the next life may be obtained
by the power of the Pope, with such abuses as money payments
consequent thereupon \]
3. Veneration and worshipping of Images and Relics.
That the Homilies do not altogether discard reverence towards
relics, has already been shown. Now let us see what they do
discard.
" What meaneth it that Christian men, after the use of the Gentiles idolaters,
cap and kneel before images ? which, if they had any sense and gratitude,
would kneel before men, carpenters, masons, plasterers, founders, and gold-
' " The pardons, then, spoken of in the Article, are large and reckless indul-
gences from the penalties of sin obtained on money payments." 1st ed.
32 Images and Relics.
smiths, their makers and framers, by whose means they have attained this
honour, which else should have been evil-favoured, and rude lumps of clay or
plaster, pieces of timber, stone, or metal, without shape or fashion, and so with-
out all estimation and honour, as that idol in the Pagan poet confesseth, saying,
' I was once a vile block, but now I am become a god,' &c. What a fond
thing is it for man, who hath life and reason, to bow himself to a dead and
insensible image, the work of his own hand ! Is not this stooping and kneeling
before them, which is forbidden so earnestly by God's word ? Let such as so
fall down before images of saints, know and confess that they exhibit that
honour to dead stocks and stones, which the saints themselves, Peter, Paul, and
Barnabas, would not to be given to them, being alive ; which the angel of God
forbiddeth to be given to him. And if they say they exhibit such honour not
to the image, but to the saint whom it representeth, they are convicted of folly,
to believe that they please saints with that honour, which they abhor as a spoil
of God's honour." — Homily on Peril of Idolatry, p. 191.
Again :
" Thus far Lactantius, and much more, too long here to write, of candle
Ughling'm temples before images and idols for religion ; whereby appeareth both
the foolishness thereof, and also that in opinion and act we do agree altogether
in our candle-religion with the Gentiles idolaters. What meaneth it that they,
after the example of the Gentiles idolaters, burn incense, offer up gold to images,
hang up crutches, chains, and ships, legs, arms, and whole men and women of
wax, before images, as though by them, or saints (as they say) they were deli-
vered from lameness, sickness, captivity, or shipwreck 7 Is not this ' colere
imagines,' to worship images, so earnestly forbidden in God's word ? If they
deny it, let them read the eleventh chapter of Daniel the Prophet, who saith of
Antichrist, ' He shall worship God, whom his fathers knew not, with gold,
silver, and with precious stones, and other things of pleasure :' in which place
the Latin word is colet." "To increase this madness, wicked men, which
have the keeping of such images, for their great lucre and advantage, after the
example of the Gentiles idolaters, have reported and spread abroad, as well by
lying tales as written fables, divers miracles of images : as that such an image
miraculously was sent from heaven, even like the Palladium, or Magna Diana
Ephesiorum. Such another was as miraculously found in the earth, as the
man's head was in the Capitol, or the horse's head in Capua. Such an image
was brought by angels. Such an one came itself far from the East to the West,
as Dame Fortune fled to Rome. Such an image of our Lady was painted by St.
Luke, whom of a physician they have made a painter for that purpose. Such
an one an hundred yokes of oxen could not move, like Bona Dea, whom the
ship could not carry; or Jupiter Olympius, which laughed the artificers to
scorn, that went about to remove him to Rome. Some images, though they
were hard and stony, yet, for tender heart and pity, wept. Some, like Castor
and Pollux, helping their friends in battle, sweat, as marble pillars do in dank-
ish weather. Some spake more monstrously than ever did Balaam's ass, who
Images and Relics. 33
had life and breath in him. Such a cripple came and saluted this saint of oak,
and by and by he was made whole ; and, lo ! here hangeth his crutch. Such
an one in a tempest vowed to St. Christopher, and 'scaped ; and behold, here is
a ship of wax. Such an one, by St. Leonard's help, brake out of prison ; and
see where his fetters hang." " The Relics we must kiss and offer unto,
specially on Relic Sunday. And while we offer, (that we should not be weary,
or repent us of our cost,) the music and minstrehy goeth merrily all the offer-
tory time, with praising and calling upon those saints whose relics be then in
presence. Yea, and the water also, wherein those relics have been dipped,
must with great reverence be reserved, as very holy and effectuous."
" Because Relics were so gainful, few places were there but they had Relics
provided for them. And for more plenty of Relics, some one saint had many
heads, one in one place, and another in another place. Some had six arms,
and twenty-six fingers. And where our Lord bare His cross alone, if all the
pieces of the relics thereof were gathered together, the greatest ship in England
would scarcely bear them ; and yet the greatest part of it, they say, doth yet
remain in the hands of the Infidels ; for the which they pray in their beads-
bidding, that they may get it also into their hands, for such godly use and pur-
pose. And not only the bones of the saints, but every thing appertaining to
them, was a holy relic. In some place they offer a sword, in some the scab-
bard, in some a shoe, in some a saddle that had been set upon some holy horse,
in some the coals wherewith St. Laurence was roasted, in some place the tall
of the ass which our Lord Jesus Christ sat on, to be kissed and offered unto for
a relic. For rather than they would lack a relic, they would offer you a horse
bone instead of a virgi?i's arm, or the tail of the ass to be kissed and offered unto
for relics. wicked, impudent, and most shameless men, the devisers of these
things ! O silly, foolish, and dastardly daws, and more beastly than the ass
whose tail they kissed, that believe such things!" "Of these things
already rehearsed, it is evident that our image maintainers have not only made
images, and set them up in temples, as did the Gentiles idolaters their idols j
but also that they have had the same idolatrous opinions of the saints, to whom
they have made images, which the Gentiles idolaters had of their false gods ;
and have not only worshipped their images with the same rites, ceremonies,
superstition, and all circumstances, as did the Gentiles idolaters their idols, but
in many points have also far exceeded them in all wickedness, foolishness, and
madness." — Homily on Peril of Idolatry, p. 193 — 197-
It -will be observed that in this extract, as elsewhere in the
Homilies, it is implied that the Bishop or the Church of Rome is
Antichrist ; but this is a statement bearing on prophetical inter-
pretation, not on doctrine ; and one besides which cannot be
reasonably brought to illustrate or explain any of the positions
of the Articles : and therefore it may be suitably passed over.
VOL. VI. — 90. D
34 Images and Relics.
In another place the Homilies speak as follows :
" Our churches stand full of such great puppets, wondrously deched and
adorned ; garlands and coronets be set on their heads, precious pearls hanging
about their necks ; their fingers shine with rings, set with precious stones ; their
dead and stiff bodies are clothed with garments stiff with gold. You would
believe that the images of our men-saints were some princes of Persia land
with their proud apparel ; and the idols of our women-saints were nice and
well-trimmed harlots, tempting their paramours to wantonness: whereby the
saints of God are not honoured, but most dishonoured, and their godliness,
soberness, chastity, contempt of riches, and of the vanity of the world, defaced
and brought in doubt by such monstrous decking, most differing from their sober
and godly lives. And because the whole pageant must thoroughly be played,
it is not enough thus to deck idols, but at last come in the priests themselves,
likewise decked with gold and pearl, that they may be meet servants for such
lords and ladies, and fit worshippers of such gods and goddesses. And with a
solemn pace they pass forth before these golden puppets, and fall down to the
ground on their marrow-bones before these honourable idols ; and then rising
up again, offer up odours and incense unto them, to give the people an example
of double idolatry, by worshipping not only the idol, but the gold also, and
riches, wherewith it is garnished. Which thing, the most part of our old
Martyrs, rather than they would do, or once kneel, or offer up one crumb of
incense before an image, suffered most cruel and terrible deaths, as the histories
of them at large do declare." " O books and scriptures, in the which the
devilish schoolmaster, Satan, hath penned the lewd lessons of wicked idolatry,
for his dastardly disciples and scholars to behold, read, and learn, to God's
most high dishonour, and their most horrible damnation ! Have we not been
much bound, think you, to those which should have taught us the truth out of
God's Book and his Holy Scripture, that they have shut up that Book and Scrip-
ture from us, and none of us so bold as once to open it, or read in it ? And
instead thereof, to spread us abroad these goodly, carved, and gilded books and
painted scriptures, to teach us such good and godly lessons ? Have not they
done well, after they ceased to stand in pulpits themselves, and to teach the
people committed to their instruction, keeping silence of God's word, and be-
come dumb dogs, (as the prophet calleth them,) to set up in their stead, on every
pillar and corner of the church, such goodly doctors, as dumb, but more wicked
than themselves be ? We need not to complain of the lack of one dumb parson,
having so many dumb devilish vicars (I mean these idols and painted puppets)
to teach in their stead. Now in the mean season, whilst the dumb and dead
idols stand thus decked and clothed, contrary to God's law and commandment,
the poor Christian people, the lively images of God, commended to us so ten-
derly by our Saviour Christ, as most dear to Him, stand naked, shivering for
cold, and their teeth chattering in their heads, and no man covereth them, are
pined with hunger and thirst, and no man giveth them a penny to refresh them ;
Images and Relics. S5
whereas pounds be ready at all times (contrary to God's word and will) to deck
and trim dead stocks and stones, which neither feel cold, hunger, nor thirst."—
Homily on Peril of Idolatry, p. 219 — 222.
Again, with a covert allusion to the abuses of the day, the
Homilist says elsewhere, of Scripture,
" There shall you read of Baal, Moloch, Charaos, Melchom, Baalpeor, Asta-
roth, Bel, the Dragon, Priapus, the brazen Serpent, the twelve Signs, and many
others, unto whose images the people, with great devotion, invented ^z7^rj»2a^es,
precious decking and censing them, kneeling down and offering to them, think-
ing that an high merit before God, and to be esteemed above the precepts and
commandments of God." — Homily on Good Works, p. 42.
Again, soon after :
" What man, having any judgment or learning, joined with a true zeal unto
God, doth not see and lament to have entered into Christ's religion, such false
doctrine, superstition, idolatry, hypocrisy, and other enormities and abuses, so
as by little and little, through the sour leaven thereof, the sweet bread of God's
holy word hath been much hindered and laid apart ? Never had the Jews, in
their most blindness, so ma^ny pilgrimages unto images, nor used so much kneel-
ing, kissing, and censing of them, as liath been used in our time. Sects and
feigned religions were neither the fortieth part so many among the Jews, nor
more superstitiously and ungodly abused, than of late years they have been
among us : which sects and religions had so many hypocritical and feigned
works in their state of religion, as they arrogantly named it, that their lamps,
as they said, ran always over, able to satisfy not only for their own sins, but
also for all other their benefactors, brothers, and sisters of religion, as most
ungodly and craftily they had persuaded the multitude of ignorant people ;
keeping in divers places, as it were, marts or markets of merits, being full of
their holy relics, images, shrines, and works of overflowing abundance, ready
to be sold ; and all things which they had were called holy — holy cowls, holy
girdles, holy pardons, holy beads, holy shoes, holy rules, and all full of holiness.
And what thing can be more foolish, more superstitious, or ungodly, than that
men, women, and children should wear a friar's coat to deliver them from agues
or pestilence ; or when they die, or when they be buried, cause it to be cast
upon them, in hope thereby to be saved ? Which superstition, although (thanks
be to God) it hath been little used in this realm, yet in divers other realms it
hath been, and yet is, used among many, both learned and unlearned." —
Homily on Good Works, pp. 45, 4G.
[Once more : —
" True religion then, and pleasing of God, standeth not in making, setting
up, painting, gilding, clothing, and decking of dumb and dead images (which be
but great puppets and babies for old fools in dotage, and wicked idolatry, to
dally and play with), nor in kissing of them, capping, kneeling, offering to them,
D 2
36 Invocation of Saints.
f
incensing of them, setting up of candles, hanging up of legs, arms, or whole
bodies of wax before them, or praying or asking of them, or of saints, things
belonging only to God to give. But all these things be vain and abominable,
and most damnable before God"— Homily on Peril of Idolatry, p. 223.]
Now the veneration and worship condemned in these and other
passages are such as these : kneeling before images, lighting can-
dles to them, offering them incense, going on pilgrimage to them,
hanging up crutches, &c. before them, lying tales about them,
belief in miracles as if wrought by them through illusion of the
devil, decking them up immodestly, and providing incentives by
them to bad passions ; and, in like manner, merry music and min-
strelsy, and licentious practices in honour of relics, counterfeit
relics, multiplication of them, absurd pretences about them. This
is what the Article means by ** the Romish doctrine," which, in
agreement to one of the above extracts, it calls "a fond thing,"
res futilis ; for who can ever hope, except the grossest and most
blinded minds, to be gaining the favour of the blessed saints,
while they come with unchaste thoughts and eyes, that cannot
cease from sin ; and to be profited by " pilgrimage-going," in
which " Lady Venus and her son Cupid were rather worshipped
wantonly in the flesh, than God the Father, and our Saviour
Christ His Son, truly worshipped in the Spirit ?"
Here again it is remarkable that, urged by the truth of the
allegation, the Council of Trent is obliged, both to confess the
above-mentioned enormities in the veneration of relics and
images, and to forbid them :
" Into these holy and salutary observances should any abuses creep, of these
the Holy Council strongly [vehementer] desires the utter extinction ; so that
no images of a false doctrine, and supplying to the uninstructed opportunity of
perilous error, should be set up All superstition also in invocation of saints,
veneration of relics, and sacred use of images, be put away; all filthy lucre be
cast out of doors ; and all wantonness be avoided ; so that images he not painted
or adorned with an immodest beauty ; or the celebration of Saints and attendance
on Relics be abused to revelries and drunhennesses ; as though festival days were
kept in honour of saints by luxury and lasciviousness." — Sess. 2.».
[On the whole, then, by the Romish doctrine of the veneration
and worshipping of images and relics, the article means all main-
tenance of those idolatrous honours which have been and are paid
Invocalion of Saints. 37
them so commonly throughout the church of Rome, with the
superstitions, profanities, and impurities consequent thereupon.]
4. Invocation of Saints.
By " invocation " here is not meant the mere circumstance of
addressing beings out of sight, because we use the Psalms in our
daily service, which are frequent in invocations of Angels to
praise and bless God. In the Benedicite too we address *' the
spirits and souls of the righteous."
Nor is it a " fond " invocation to pray that unseen beings may
bless us ; for this [Bishop Ken does in his Evening Hymn : —
" O may my Guardian, while I sleep,
Close to my bed his vigils keep,
His love angelical iTistil,
Stop all the avenues of ill," &c.] *
On the other hand, judging from the example set us in the
Homilies themselves, invocations are not censurable, and cer-
tainly not "fond," if we mean nothing definite by them, ad-
dressing them to beings which we k7iow cannot hear, and using
them as interjections. The Homilist seems to avail himself of
this proviso in a passage, which will serve to begin our extracts
in illustration of the superstitious use of invocations.
" We have left Him neither heaven, nor earth, nor water, nor country, nor
city, peace nor war to rule and govern, neither men, nor beasts, nor their dis-
eases to cure; that a godly man might justly, for zealous indignation, cry out,
O heaven, earth, and seas ^, virhat madness and wickedness against God are
men fallen into ! What dishonour do the creatures to their Creator and
Maker ! And if we remember God sometimes, yet, because we doubt of His
ability or will to help, we join to Him another helper, as if He were a noun
adjective, using these sayings : such as learn, God and St. Nicholas be my
speed : such as neese. Goo help and St. John : to the horse, God and St, Loy
save thee. Thus are we become like horses and mules, which have no under-
standing. For is there not one God only, who by His power and wisdom made
all things, and by His providence governeth the same, and by His goodness
maintaineth and saveth them ? Be not all things of Him, by Him, and through
Him ? Why dost thou turn from the Creator to the creatures? This is the
manner of the Gentiles idolaters: but thou art a Christian, and therefore by
Christ alone hast access to God the Father, and help of Him only." —
Homily on Peril of Idolatry, p. 189.
' [A passage here occurred in 1st edition upon Rev. i. 4, in which the author
still thinks that " the seven spirits " are seven created angels.]
2 O coelum, o terra, o maria Neptuni. Terent. Adelph. v. 3.
38 Invocation of Saints.
Again, just before —
" Terentius Varro sheweth, that there were three hundred Jupiters in hig
time : there were no fewer Veneres and Dianae : we had no fewer Christophers,
Ladies, and Mary Magdalens, and other saints. CEnomaus and Hesiodus shew,
that in their time there were thirty thousand gods. I think we had no fewer
saints, to whom we gave the honour due to God. And they have not only
spoiled the true living God of his due honour in temples, cities, countries, and
lands, by such devices and inventions as the Gentiles idolaters have done before
them : but the sea and waters have as well special saints with them, as they
had gods with the Gentiles, Neptune, Triton, Nereus, Castor and Pollux,
Venus, and such other : in whose places become St. Christopher, St. Clement,
and divers other, and specially our Lady, to whom shipmen sing, ' Ave, maris
Stella.' Neither hath the fire escaped their idolatrous inventions. For, instead
of Vulcan and Vesta, the Gentiles' gods of the fire, our men have placed St.
Agatha, and make litters on her day for to quench fire with. Every artificer
and profession hath his special saint, as a peculiar god. As for example,
scholars have St. Nicholas and St. Gregory : painters, St. Luke ; neither lack
soldiers their Mars, nor lovers their Venus, amongst Christians. All diseases
have their special saints, as gods the curers of them ; the falling-evil St.
Cornelio, the tooth- ache St. Apollin, &c. Neither do beast nor cattle lack their
gods with us ; for St. Loy is the horse-leech, and St. Anthony the swineherd."
—Ibid. p. 188.
The same subject is introduced in connexion with a lament
over the falling off of attendance on religious worship conse-
quent upon the Reformation :
" God's vengeance hath been and is daily provoked, because much wicked
people pass nothing to resort to the Church, either for that they are so sore
blinded, that they understand nothing of Goo and godliness, and care not with
devilish example to offend their neighbours ; or else for that they see the
Church altogether scoured of such gay gazing sights, as their gross fantasy was
greatly delighted with, because they see the false religion abandoned, and the
true restored, which seemeth an unsavoury thing to their unsavoury taste ; as
may appear by this, that a woman said to her neighbour, ' Alas, gossip, what
shall we now do at church, since all the saints are taken away, since all the
goodly sights we were wont to have are gone, since we cannot hear the like
piping, singing, chanting, and playing upon the organs, that we could before ? '
But, dearly beloved, we ought greatly to rejoice, and give God thanks, that our
churches are delivered of all those things which displeased God so sore, and
filthily defiled his house and his place of prayer, for the which He hath justly
destroyed many nations, according to the saying of St. Paul : ' If any man defile
the temple of God, God will him destroy.' And this ought we greatly to
praise God for, that superstitious and idolatrous manners as were utterly
naught, and defaced God's glory, are utterly abolished, as they most justly
deserved : and yet those things that either God was honoured with, or his
Invocation of Saints. 39
people edified, are decently retained, and in our churches comely practised." —
On the Place and Time of Pratjer, pp. 293, 294.
Again :
" There are certain conditions most requisite to be found in every such a one
that must be called upon, which if they be not found in Him unto whom we
pray, then doth our prayer avail us nothing, but is altogether in vain.
" The first is this, that He, to whom we make our prayers, be able to help
us. The second is, that He will help us. The third is, that He be such a one
as may hear our prayers. The fourth is, that He understand better than our-
selves what we lack, and how far we have need of help. If these things be to
be found in any other, saving only God, then may we lawfully call upon some
other besides God. But what man is so gross, but he well understandeth that
these things are only proper to Him, who is omnipotent, and knoweth all
things, even the very secrets of the heart; that is to say, only and to God
alone ? Whereof it foUoweth that we must call neither upon angel, nor yet
upon saint, but only and solely upon God, as St. Paul doth write : ' How shall
men call upon Him, in whom they have not believed ?' So that invocation or
prayer may not be made without faith in Him on whom they call, but that we
must first believe in Him before we can make our prayer unto Him, whereupon
we must only and solely pray unto God. For to say that we should believe in
either angel or saint, or in any other living creature, were most horrible blas-
phemy against God and his holy word ; neither ought this fancy to enter into
the heart of any Christian man, because we are expressly taught in the word of
the Lord, only to repose our faith in the blessed Trinity, in whose only name
we are also baptized, according to the express commandment of our Saviour
Jesus Christ, in the last of St. Matthew.
"But that the truth hereof may better appear, even to them that be most
simple and unlearned, let us consider what prayer is. St. Augustine calleth it
a lifting up of the mind to GoD ; that is to say, an humble and lowly pouring
out of the heart to God. Isidorus saith, that it is an affection of the heart, and
not a labour of the lips. So that, by these plans, true prayer doth consist not
so much in the outward sound and voice of words, as in the inward groaning
and crying of the heart to God.
" Now, then, is there any angel, any virgin, any patriarch, or prophet, among
the dead, that can understand or know the meaning of the heart ? The Scrip-
ture saith, ' it is God that searcheth the heart and reins, and that He only
knoweth the hearts of the children of men.' As for the saints, they have so
little knowledge of the secrets of the heart, that many of the ancient fathers
greatly doubt whether they know any thing at all, that is commonly done on
earth. And albeit some think they do, yet St. Augustine, a doctor of great
authority, and also antiquity, hath this opinion of them; that they know no
more what we do on earth, than we know what they do in heaven. For proof
whereof, he allegeth the words of Isaiah the prophet, where it is said, ' Abra-
ham is ignorant of us, and Israel knoweth us not.' His mind therefore is tliis,
40 Invocalion of Saints,
not that we should put any religion in worshipping them, or praying unto
them ; but that we should honour them by following their virtuous and godly
life. For, as he witnesseth in another place, the martyrs, and holy men in
time past, were wont, after their death, to be remevibered, and named of the
priest at divine service ; but never to be invocated or called upon. And why
so ? Because the priest, saith he, is God's priest, and not theirs : whereby he
is bound to call upon God, and not upon them but I dare not (will
some men say) trouble God at all times with my prayers ; we see that in kings'
houses, and courts of princes, men cannot be admitted, unless they first use the
help and means of some special nobleman, to come to the speech of the king,
and to obtain the thing that they would have.
" Christ, sitting in heaven, hath an everlasting priesthood, and always
prayeth to His Father for them that be penitent, obtaining, by virtue of His
wounds, which are evermore in the sight of God, not only perfect remission of
our sins, but also all other necessaries that we lack in this world ; so that this
Holy Mediator is sufficient in heaven, and needeth no others to help Him.
" Invocation is a thing proper unto God, which if we attribute unto the
saints, it soundeth unto their reproach, neither can they well bear it at our
hands. When Paul healed a certain lame man, which was impotent in his
feet, at Lystra, the people would have done sacrifice unto him and Barnabas ;
who, rending their clothes, refused it, and exhorted them to worship the true
God. Likewise in the Revelation, when St. John fell before the angel's feet to
worship him, the angel would not permit him to do it, but commanded him that
he should worship God. Which examples declare unto us, that the saints and
angels in heaven will not have us to do any honour unto them, that is due and
proper unto God." — Homily on Prayer, p. 272 — 277»
Whereas, then, it has already been shown that not all invocation
is wrong, this last passage plainly tells us what kind of invo-
cation is not allowable, or what is meant by invocation in its
exceptionable sense : viz. "a thing proper to God," as being part
of the " honour that is due and proper unto God." And two
instances are specially given of such calling and invocating,
viz., sacrifcing and falling down in worship. Besides this, the
Homilist adds, that it is wrong to pray to them for " necessaries
in this world," and to accompany their services with " piping,
singing, chanting, and playing " on the organ, and of invoking
saints as patrons of particular elements, countries, arts, or
remedies.
Here again, as before, the Article gains a witness and concur-
rence from the Council of Trent. " Though," say the divines
there assembled, " the Church has been accustomed sometimes
Invocation of Saiiits. 41
to celebrate a few masses to the honour and remembrance of
saints, yet she doth not teach that sacrifce is offered to them, but
to God alone, who crowned them ; wherefore neither is the
priest wont to say, / offer sacrifce to thee, O Peter, or Paul,
but to God." (Sess. 22.)
Or, to know what is meant by fond invocations, we may refer
to the following passage of Bishop Andrews's Answer to Cardinal
Perron : —
" This one point is needful to be observed throughout all the Cardinal's
answer, that he hath framed to himself five distinctions : — (1.) Prayer direct,
and prayer oblique, or Indirect. (2.) Prayer absolute, and prayer relative.
(3.) Prayer sovereign, and prayer subaltern. (4.) Prayer final, and prayer
transitory. (5.) Prayer sacrificial, and prayer out of, or from the sacrifice
Prayer direct, absolute, final, sovereign, sacrificial, that must not be made to the
saints, but to God only ; but as for prayer oblique, relative, transitory, subaltern,
from, or out of the sacrifice, that (saith he) we may make to the saints.
" For all the world like the question in Scotland, which was made some
fifty years since, whether the Paternoster might not be said to saints? For
then they in like sort devised the distinction of — (1.) Ultimate, et non ultimate.
(2.) Principaliter, et minus principaliter. (3.) Primarie, et sectindarie : Ca-
piendo striate et capiendo large. And as for ultimate, principaliter, primarie et
capiendo stricte, they concluded it must go to God ; but non ultimate, minus
principaliter, secundarie, et capiendo large, it might be allowed saints.
" Yet it is sure, that in these distinctions is the whole substance of his
answer. And whensoever he is pressed, he flees straight to his prayer relative
and prayer transitory; as if prier pour prier, were all the Church of Rome did
hold ; and that they made no prayers to the saints, but only to pray for them.
The Bishop well remembers, that Master Casaubon more than once told him
that reasoning with the Cardinal, touching the invocation of saints, the Car-
dinal freely confessed to him that he had never prayed to saint in all his life,
save only when he happened to follow the procession ; and that then he sung
Ora pro nobis with the clerks indeed, but else not.
" Which Cometh much to this opinion he now seemeth to defend : but
wherein others of the Churcli of Rome will surely give him over, so that it is
to be feared that the Cardinal will be shent for this, and some censure come out
against him by the Sorbonne. For the world cannot believe that oblique rela-
tive prayer is all that is sought ; seeing it is most evident, by their breviaries,
hours, and rosaries, that they pray directly, absolutely, and finally to saints,
and make no mention at all of prier pour prier, to pray to God to forgive
them ; but to the saints, to give it themselves. So that all he saith comes to
nothing. They say to the blessed Virgin, • Sancta Maria,' not only ' Ora pro
nobis : ' but * Succurre miseris, juva pusillanimes, resolve flebiles, accipe quod
otferimus, dona quod rogamus, excusa quod timemus,' &c. &c
42 Invocation of Saints.
" All which, and many more, show plainly that the practice of the Church
of Rome, in this point of invocation of saints, is far otherwise than Cardinal
Perron would bear the world in hand: and tha.t prier pour prier, is not all, but
that 'Tu dona coelum, Tu laxa, Tu sana, Tu solve crimina, Tu due, conduc,
indue, perdue ad gloriam ; Tu serva, Tu fer opem, Tu aufer, Tu confer vitam,'
are said to them {totidem verbis) : more than which cannot be said to God him-
self. And again, ' Hie nos solvat a peccatis, Hie nostros tergat reatus. Hie
arma conferat. Hie hostem fuget, Hsec gubernet, Hie aptet tuo conspectui ; '
which if they be not direct and absolute, it would be asked of them what is
absolute or direct?" — Bishop Andrews's Answer to Chapter XX. of Cardinal
Perron's Reply, p. 57 — 62.
Bellarmine's admissions quite bear out the principles laid down
by Bishop Andrews and the Homilist : —
" It is not lawful," he says, " to ask of the saints to grant to us, as if they
were the authors of divine benefits, glory or grace, or the other means of bless-
edness This is proved, first, from Scripture, ' The Lord will give grace
and glory.' (Psal. Ixxxiv.) Secondly, from the usage of the Church ; for in
the mass-prayers, and the saints' oflSces, we never ask any thing else, but that
at their prayers, benefits may be granted to us by God. Thirdly, from reason ;
for what we need surpasses the powers of the creature, and therefore even of
saints ; therefore we ought to ask nothing of saints beyond their impetrating
from God what is profitable for us. Fourthly, from Augustine and Theodoret,
who expressly teach that saints are not to be invoked as gods, but as able to
gain from God what they wish. However, it must be observed, when we say,
that nothing should be asked of saints but their prayers for us, the question is
not about the words, but the sense of the words. For, as far as words go, it is
lawful to say : ' St. Peter, pity me, save me, open for me the gate of heaven ;'
also, ' give me health of body, patience, fortitude,' &c., provided that we mean
'save and pity me by praying for me ;' 'grant me this or IhdX by thy prayers
and merits.' For so speaks Gregory Nazianzen, and many others of the
ancients, &c." — De Sanct. Beat. i. 17.
[By the doctrine of the invocation of Saints then, the article
means all maintenance of addresses to them which entrench upon
the incommunicable honour due to God alone, such as have been,
and are in the church of Rome, and such as, equally with the
peculiar doctrine of purgatory, pardons, and worshipping and
adoration of images and relics, as actually taught in that
church, are unknown to the Catholic Church.]
43
§ 7. — The Sacraments.
Art. XXV. — " Those five, commonly called Sacraments, that is
to say, Confirmation, Penance, Orders, Matrimony, and Ex-
treme Unction, are not to be counted for Sacraments of the
Gospel, being such as have grown, partly of the corrupt follow-
ing (prava imitatione) of the Apostles, partly from states of life
allowed in the Scriptures ; but yet have not like nature of
sacraments, (sacramentorum candem rationem,) with Baptism
and the Lord's Supper, for that they have not any visible sign or
ceremony ordained of God."
This Article does not deny the five rites in question to be
sacraments, but to be sacraments in the sense in which Baptism
and the Lord's Supper are sacraments ; " sacraments of the
Gospel" sacraments with an outtvard sigti ordained of God.
They are not sacraments in any sense, unless the Church has
the power of dispensing grace through rites of its own appoint-
ing, or is endued with the gift of blessing and hallowing the
" rites or ceremonies " which, according to the twentieth article,
it " hath power to decree." But we may well believe that the
Church has this gift.
If, then, a sacrament be merely an outward sign of an invisible
grace given under it, the five rites may be sacraments ; but if it
must be an outward sign ordained by God or Christ, then only
Baptism and the Lord's Supper are sacraments.
Our Church acknowledges both definitions; — in the article
before us, the stricter ; and again in the Catechism, where a
sacrament is defined to be ** an outward visible sign of an in-
ward spiritual grace, given unto us, ordained by Christ himself."
And this, it should bo remarked, is a characteristic of our for-
mularies in various places, not to deny the truth or obligation
of certain doctrines or ordinances, but simply to deny, (what no
Roman opponent now can successfully maintain,) that Christ
44 The Sacraments.
for certain directly ordained them. For instance, in regard to the
visible Church it is sufficient that the ministration of the sacra-
ments should be "according to Christ's ordinance.^' Art. xix. —
And it is added, " in all those things that of necessity are requisite
to the same." The question entertained is, what is the least that
God requires of us. Again, "the baptism of young children
is to be retained, as most agreeable to the institution of Christ."
Art. xxvii. — Again, " the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was
not by Christ's ordinance reserved, carried about, lifted up, or
worshipped." Art. xxviii. — Who will maintain the paradox that
what the Apostles " set in order when they came " had been
already done by Christ ? Again, " both parts of the Lord's
sacrament, hy Christ's ordinance and commandment, ought to
be administered to all Christian men alike." Art. xxx. — Again,
" bishops, priests, and deacons, are not commanded hy God's law
either to vow the estate of single life or to abstain from mar-
riage." Art. xxxii. — [In making this distinction, however, it
is not here insinuated, though the question is not entered on
in these particular articles, that every one of these points, of which
it is only said that they are not ordained by Christ, is justifiable
on grounds short of His appointment,]
On the other hand, our Church takes the wider sense of the
meaning of the word sacrament in the Homilies ; observing —
" In the second Book against the Adversary of the Law and the Prophets,
he [St. Augustine] calleth saci-aments holy signs. And writing to Bonifacius
of the baptism of infants, he saith, ' If sacraments had not a certain similitude
of those things whereof they be sacraments, they should be no sacraments at
all. And of this similitude they do for the most parts receive the names of the
self-same things they signify.' By these words of St. Augustine it appeareth,
that he alloweth the common description of a sacrament, which is, that it is a
visible sign of an invisible grace ; that is to say, that setteth out to the eyes and
other outward senses the inward working of God's free mercy, and doth, as it
were, seal in our hearts the promises of God." — Homily on Common Prayer and
Sacraments, pp. 296, 297.
Accordingly, starting with this definition of St. Augustine's, the
writer is necessarily carried on as follows : —
" You shall hear how many sacraments there be, that were instituted by our
Saviour Christ, and are to be continued, and received of every Christian in
The Sacraments. 45
due time and order, and for such purpose as our Saviour Christ willed them
to be received. And as for the number of them, if they should be considered
according to the exact signification of a sacrament, namely, for visible signs
expressly commanded in the Newr Testament, whereunto is annexed the pro-
mise of free forgiveness of our sins, and of our holiness and joining in Christ,
there be but two ; namely. Baptism, and the Supper of the Lord. For although
absolution hath the promise of forgiveness of sin ; yet by the express word of
the New Testament, it hath not this promise annexed and tied to the visible
sign, which is imposition of hands. For this visible sign (I mean laying on of
hands) is not expressly commanded in the New Testament to be used in abso-
lution, as the visible signs in Baptism and the Lord's Supper are : and there-
fore absolution is no such sacrament as Baptism and the Communion are. And
though the ordering of ministers hath this visible sign and promise ; yet it
lacks the promise of remission of sin, as all other sacraments besides the two
above named do. Therefore neither it, nor any other sacrament else, be such
sacraments as Baptism and the Communion are. But in a general acception,
the name of a sacrament may be attributed to any thing, whereby an holy
thing is signified. In which understanding of the word, the ancient writers
have given this name, not only to the other five, commonly of late years taken
and used for supplying the number of the seven sacraments ; but also to
divers and sundry other ceremonies, as to oil, washing of feet, and such like ;
not meaning thereby to repute them as sacraments, in the same signification
that the two forenaraed sacraments are. And therefore St. Augustine, weighing
the true signification and exact meaning of the word, writing to Januarius, and
also in the third Book of Christian Doctrine, aflBrmeth, that the sacraments of
the Christians, as they are most excellent in signification, so are they most few
in number, and in both places maketh mention expressly of two, the sacrament
of Baptism, and the Supper of the Lord. And although there are retained
by order of the Church of England, besides these two, certain other rites and
ceremonies, about the institution of ministers in the Church, Matrimony,
Confirmation of Children, by examining them of their knowledge in the
Articles of the Faith, and joining thereto the prayers of the Church for them,
and likewise for the Visitation of the Sick ; yet no man ought to take these
for sacraments, in such signification and meaning as the sacraments of Bap-
tism and the Lord's Supper are ; but either for godly states of life, necessary in
Christ's Church, and therefore worthy to be set forth by public action and
solemnity, by the ministry of the Church, or else judged to be such ordinances
as may make for the instruction, comfort, and edification of Christ's Church."
— Homily on Common Prayer and Sacraments, pp. 298—300.
Another definition of the word sacrament, which equally suc-
ceeds in limiting it to the two principal rites of the Christian
Church, is also contained in the Catechism, as well as alluded to
46 The Sacraments,
in the above passage : — Two only, as generally necessary to
salvation, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord." On this sub-
ject the following remark has been made : —
*' The Roman Catholic considers that there are seven [sacra-
ments] ; we do not strictly determine the number. We define
the word generally to be an ' outward sign of an inward grace,'
without saying to how many ordinances this applies. However,
what we do determine is, that Christ has ordained two special
sacraments, as generally necessary to salvation. This, then, is
the characteristic mark of those two, separating them from all
other whatever ; and this is nothing else but saying in other
words, that they are the only jtisti/ying rites, or instruments of
communicating the Atonement, which is the one thing necessary
to us. Ordination, for instance, gives power, yet without making
the soul acceptable to God ; Confirmation gives light and strength,
yet is the mere completion of Baptism ; and Absolution may be
viewed as a negative ordinance removing the barrier which sin
has raised between us and that grace, which by inheritance is
ours. But the two sacraments * of the Gospel,' as they may be
emphatically styled, are the instruments of inward life, according
to our Lord's declaration, that Baptism is a new birth, and that
in the Eucharist we eat the living bread."
47
§ 8. — Transubstantiation.
Article xxviii. — " Transubstantiation, or the change of the sub-
stance of bread and wine, in the supper of the Lord, cannot be
proved by Holy Writ ; but is repugnant to the plain words of
Scripture, overthroweth the nature of a sacrament, and hath
given occasion to many superstitions."
What is here opposed as " Transubstantiation," is the shocking
doctrine that "the body of Christ," as the Article goes on to
express it, is not "given, taken, and eaten, after an heavenly and
spiritual manner, but is carnally pressed with the teeth ;" that It
is a body or substance of a certain extension and bulk in space,
and a certain figure and due disposition of parts, whereas we
hold that the only substance such, is the bread which we see.
This is plain from Article xxix., which quotes St. Augustine
as speaking of the wicked as " carnally and visibly pressing with
their teeth the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ,"
not the real substance, a statement which even the Breviary
introduces into the service for Corpus Christi day.
This is plain also from the words of the Homily : — •' Saith
Cyprian, 'When we do these things, ne need not whet our teeth,
but with sincere faith we break and divide that holy bread. It
is well known that the meat we seek in this supper is spiritual
food, the nourishment of the soul, a heavenly refection, and not
earthly ; an invisible meat and not a bodily : a ghostly sub-
stance, and not carnal.' "
Some extracts may be quoted to the same effect from Bishop
Taylor. Speaking of what has been believed in the Church of
Rome, he says : —
" Soraetimes Christ hath appeared in His own shape, and blood and flesh
hath been pulled out of the mouths of the communicants : and Plegilus, the
priest, saw an angel, showing Christ to him in form of a child upon the altar,
whom first he took in his arms and kissed, but did eat Him up presently in his
other shape, in the shape of a wafer. • Speciosa cert6 pax nebulonis, ut qui
48 Transubstantiation.
oris prsebuerat basium, dentium inferret exitium," said Berengarius : ' It was
but a Judas' kiss to kiss with the lip, and bite with the teeth.'" — Bp. Taylor,
vol. X. p. 12.
Again : —
" Yet if this and the other miracles pretended, had not been illusions or
directly fabulous, it had made very much against the present doctrine of the
Roman Church : for they represent the body in such measure, as by their ex-
plications it is not, and it cannot be : they represent it broken, a finger, or a
piece of flesh, or bloody, or bleeding, or in the form of an infant ; and then,
when it is in the species of bread : for if, as they say, Christ's body is present
no longer than the form of bread remained, how can it be Christ's body in
the miracle, when the species being gone, it is no longer a sacrament ? But
the dull inventors of miracles in those ages considered nothing of this ; the
article itself was then gross and rude, and so were the instruments of proba-
tion. I noted this, not only to show at what door so incredible a persuasion
entered, but that the zeal of prevailing in it hath so blinded the refiners of it
in this age, that they still urge these miracles for proof, when, if they do any
thing at all, they reprove the present doctrine." — £p. Taylor's Works, vol. ix.
p. ccccxi.
Again : the change which is denied in the Article is accurately
specified in another passage of the same author : —
" I will not insist upon the unworthy questions which this carnal doctrine
introduces . . . neither will I make scrutiny concerning Christ's bones, hair,
and nails ; nor suppose the Roman priests to be such KapxapoSovTig, and to
have such ' saws in their mouths :' these are appendages of their persuasion,
but to be abominated by all Christian and modest persons, who use to eat not
the bodies but the flesh of beasts, and not to devour, but to worship the body
of Christ in the exaltation, and now in union with His divinity." — On the Real
Presence, 11.
And again : —
" They that deny the spiritual sense, and affirm the natural, are to remember
that Christ reproved all senses of these words that were not spiritual. And
by the way let me observe, that the expressions of some chief men among the
Romanists are so rude and crass, that it will he impossible to excuse them from
the understanding the words in the sense of the men of Capernaum : for, as they
understood Christ to mean His ' true flesh, natural and proper,' so do they : as
they thought Christ intended they should tear Him with their teeth and suck
His blood, for which they were offended ; so do these men not only think so,
but say so, and are not offended. So said Alaiius, ' Assertissime loquiraur,
corpus Christi vere a nobis contrectari, manducari, circumgestari, dentibus teri
[ground by the teeth^, sensihiliter sacrificari [sensibly sacrificed'}, non minus
Transtibstantiatiou. 49
quam ante consecratlonem panis,' [not less than the bread before consecra-
tion] .... I thought that the Romanists had been glad to separate their own
opinion from the carnal conceit of the men of Capernaum and the offended
disciples .... but I find that Bellarmine owns it, even in them, in their rude
circumstances, for he affirms that ' Christ corrected them not fur supposing so,
but reproved them for not believing it to be so.' And indeed himself says as
much : ' The body of Christ is truly and properly manducated or chewed with
the bread in the Eucharist ;' and to take off the foulness of the expression, by
avoiding a worse, he is pleased to speak nonsense : ' A thing may be mmdu-
cated or chewed, though it be not attrite or broken.' . . . But Bellarmine adds,
that if you will not allow him to say so, then he grants it in plain terms, that
Christ's body is chewed, is attrite or broken with the teeth, and that not
tropically, but properly. . . . How? under the species of bread, and invisibly."
—Ibid. 3.
Take again the statement of Ussher : —
" Paschasius Radbertus, who was one of the first setters forward of this doc-
trine in the West, spendeth a large chapter upon this point, wherein he telleth
us, that Christ in the Sacrament did show himself ' oftentimes in a visible
shape, either in the form of a lamb, or in the colour of flesh and blood ; so that
while the host was a breaking or an offering, a lamb in the priest's hands, and
blood in the chalice should be seen as it were flowing from the sacrifice, that
what lay bid in a mystery might to them that yet doubted be made manifest in
a miracle.' .... The first [tale] was .... of a Roman matron, who found a
piece of the sacramental bread turned into the fashion of a finger, all bloody ;
which afterwards, upon the prayers of St. Gregory, was converted to its former
shape again. The other two were first coined by the Grecian liars The
former of these is not only related there, but also in the legend of Simeon
Metaphrastes (which is suclLanother author among the Grecians as Jacobus de
Voragine was among the Latins) in the life of Arsenius, .... how that a little
child was seen upon the altar, and an angel cutting him into small pieces with
a knife, and receiving his blood into the chalice, as long as the priest was
breaking the bread into little parts. The latter is of a certain Jew, receiving
the sacrament at St. Basil's hands, converted visibly into true flesh and blood."
— Ussher' s Answer to a Jesuit, pp. C2 — G4.
Or the following : —
" When St. Odo was celebrating the mass in the presence of certain of the
clergy of Canterbury, (who maintained that the bread and wine, after consecra-
tion, do remain in their former substance, and are not Christ's true body
and blood, but a figure of it :) when he was come to confraction, presently
the fragments of the body of Christ which he held in his hands, began to
pour forth blood into the chalice. Whereupon he shed tears of joy; and
beckoning to them that wavered in their faith, to come near and see the
VOL. YI. — 90. E
50 Transuhstantialion.
wonderful work of God: as soon as they beheld it they cried out, * holy
Prelate ! to whom the Son of God has been pleased to reveal Himself visibly in
the flesh, pray for us, that the blood we see here present to our eyes, may again
be changed, lest for our unbelief the Divine vengeance fall upon us.' He prayed
accordingly; after which, looking in the chalice, he saw the species of bread
and wine, where he had left blood
" St. Wittekundus, in the administration of the Eucharist, saw a child enter
into every one's mouth, playing and smiling when some received him, and with
an abhorring countenance when he went into the mouths of others ; Christ
thus showing this saint in His countenance, who were worthy, and who un-
worthy receivers." — Johnson's Miracles of Saints, pp. 27, 28.
The same doctrine was imposed by Nicholas the Second on
Berengarius, as the confession of the latter shows, which runs
thus : —
" I, Berengarius . . . anathematize every heresy, and more particularly that
of which I have hitherto been accused .... I agree with the Roman Church
.... that the bread and wine which are placed on the altar are, after conse-
cration, not only a sacrament, but even the true body and blood of our Lord
Jesus Christ ; and that these are sensibly, and not merely sacramentally,
but in truth, handled and broken by the hands of the priest, and ground by the
teeth of the faithful." — Bowden^s Life of Gregory VII., vol. ii. p. 243.
Another illustration of the sort of doctrine offered in the
Article, may be given from Bellarmine, whose controversial state-
ments have already been introduced in the course of the above
extracts. He thus opposes the doctrine of intromsception, which
the spiritual view of the Real Presence naturally suggests : —
He observes, that there are " two particular opinions, false and
erroneous, excogitated in the schools : that of Durandus, who
thought it probable that the substance of the body of Christ in
the Eucharist was without magnitude ; and that of certain ancients,
which Occam seems afterwards to have followed, that though it has
magnitude, (which they think not really separable from substance,)
yet every part is so penetrated by every other, that the body of
Christ is without figure, without distinction and order of parts."
With this he contrasts the doctrine which, he maintains, is that of
the Church of Rome as well as the general doctrine of the schools,
that " in the Eucharist whole Christ exists with magnitude and
all accidents, except that relation to a heavenly location which He
has as He is in heaven, and those things which are concomitants
Transuhstantiatwn. 51
on His existence in that location ; and that the parts and members
of Christ's body do not penetrate each other, but are so distinct
and arranged one with another, as to have a figure and order
suitable to a human body." — De Euchar. ill. 5.
We see then, that, by transubstantiation, our Article does not
confine itself to any abstract theory, nor aim at any definition of
the word substance, nor in rejecting it, rejects a word, nor in
denying a " mutatio panis et vini," is denying every kind of
change, but opposes itself to a certain plain and unambiguous
statement, not of this or that council, but one generally received
or taught both in the schools and in the multitude, that the mate-
rial elements are changed into an earthly, fleshly, and organized
body, extended in size, distinct in its parts, which is there where
the outward appearances of bread and wine are, and only does not
meet the senses, nor even that always.
Objections against " substance," " nature," " change," "acci-
dents," and the like, seem more or less questions of words, and
inadequate expressions of the great offence which we find in the
received Roman view of this sacred doctrine.
In this connexion it may be suitable to proceed to notice the
Explanation appended to the Communion Service, of our kneeling
at the Lord's Supper, which requires explanation itself, more
perhaps than any part of our formularies. It runs as follows : —
" Whereas it is ordained in this office for the Administration
of the Lord's Supper, that the communicants should receive the
same kneeling ; (which order is well meant, for a signification
of our humble and grateful acknowledgment of the benefits of
Christ therein given to all worthy receivers, and for the avoid-
ing of such profanation and disorder in the holy communion, as
might otherwise ensue ;) yet, lest the same kneeling should by
any persons, either out of ignorance and infirmity, or out of
malice and obstinacy, be misconstrued and depraved, — It is
hereby declared, that thereby no adoration is intended, or ought
to be done, either unto the sacramental bread or wine there
bodily received, or unto any corporal presence of Christ's natural
flesh and blood. For the sacramental bread and wine remain still
K 2
52 Transuhstantiation.
in their very natural substances, and therefore may not be adored ;
(for that were idolatry, to be abhorred of all faithful Christians ;)
and the natural body and blood of our Saviouk Christ are in
heaven, and not here ; it being against the truth of Christ's
natural body to be at one time in more places than one."
Now it may be admitted without difficulty, — 1. That •* no
adoration ought to be done unto the sacramental bread and wine
there bodily received." 2. Nor " unto uny corporal (i. e. carnal)
presence of Christ's natural flesh and blood." 3. That " the
sacramental bread and wine remain still in their very natural
substances." 4. That to adore them " were idolatry to be ab-
horred of all faithful Christians ;" and 5. That " the natural
body and blood of our Saviour Christ are in heaven."
But " to heaven" is added, " and not here." Now, though it
be allowed that there is no *' corporal presence" [i. e. carnal] of
" Christ's natural flesh and blood" here, it is a further point to
allow that " Christ's natural body and blood" are " not here."
And the question is, how can there be any presence at all of His
body and blood, yet a presence such, as not to be here ? How
can there be any presence, yet not local ?
Yet that this is the meaning of the paragraph in question is
plain, from what it goes on to say in proof of its position : *' It
being against the truth of Christ's natural body to be at one time
in more places than one." It is here asserted then, 1. Generally,
" no natural body can be in more places than one;" therefore, 2.
Christ's natural body cannot be in the bread and wine, or there
where the bread and wine are seen. In other words, there is no
local presence in the Sacrament. Yet, that there is a presence is
asserted in the Homilies, as quoted above, and the question is,
as just now stated, ** How can there be a presence, yet not a
local one ?"
Now, first, let it be observed, that the question to be solved is
the truth of a certain philosophical deduction, not of a certain
doctrine of Scripture. That there is a real presence. Scripture
asserts, and the Homilies, Catechism, and Communion Service
confess ; but the explanation before us adds, that it is phiioso-
Transubstantiation. 53
phically impossible that it should be a particular kind of presence,
a presence of which one can say " it is here," or which is " local."
It states then a philosophical deduction ; but to such deduction
none of us have subscribed. AVe have professed, in the words of
the Canon : " That the Book of Prayer, &c. containeth in it
not/iing contrary to the rvord of God." Now, a position like this
may not be, and is not, " contrary to the word of God," and yet
need not be true ; e.g. we may accept St. Clement's Epistle to
the Corinthians, as containing nothing contrary to Scripture, nay,
as altogether most scriptural, and yet this would not hinder us
from rejecting the account of the Phoenix — as contrary, not to
God's word, but to matter of fact. Even the infallibility of the
Roman see is not considered to extend to matters of fact or points
of philosophy. Nay, we commonly do not consider that we need
take the words of Scripture itself literally about the sun's stand-
ing still, or the earth being fixed, or the firmament being above.
Those at least who distinguish between what is theological in
Scripture and what is scientific, and yet admit that Scripture is
true, have no ground for wondering at such persons as subscribe
to a paragraph, of which at the same time they disallow the
philosophy ; especially considering they expressly subscribe it
only as not •' contrary to the word of God." This then is what
must be said first of all.
Next, the philosophical position is itself capable of a very spe-
cious defence. The truth is, we do not at all know what is meant
by distance or intervals absolutely, any more than we know what
is meant by absolute time. Late discoveries in geology have
tended to make it probable that time may under circumstances
go indefinitely faster or slower than it does at present ; or in
other words, that indefinitely more may be accomplished in a
given portion of it. What Moses calls a day, geologists wish to
prove to be thousands of years, if we measure time by the opera-
tions at present effected in it. It is equally difficult to determine
what we mean by distance, or why we should not be at this mo-
ment close to the throne of God, though we seem far from it. Our
measure of distance is our hand or our foot ; but as an object a
foot off is not called distant, though the interval is indefinitely
54 Transubstantiation.
divisible; neither need it be distant either, after it has been
multiplied indefinitely. Why should any conventional measure of
ours — why should the perceptions of our eyes or our ears, be the
standard of presence or distance ? Christ may really be close
to us, though in heaven, and His presence in the Sacrament may
but be a manifestation to the worshipper of that nearness, not a
change of place, which may be unnecessary. But on this subject
some extracts may be suitably made from a pamphlet published
several years since, and admitting of one or two verbal corrections,
which, as in the case of other similar quotations above, shall here
be made without scruple : —
" In the note at the end of the Communion Service, it is
argued, that a body cannot be in two places at once ; and that
therefore the Body of Christ is not locally present, in the sense
in which we speak of the bread as being locally present. On
the other hand, in the Communion Service itself, Catechism,
Articles, and Homilies, it is plainly declared, that the Body of
Christ is in a mysterious way, if not locally, yet really present,
so that we are able after some ineffable manner to receive It.
Whereas, then, the objection stands, ' Christ is not really here,
because He is not locally here,' our formularies answer, ' He is
really here, yet not locally.'
" But it may be asked. What is the meaning of saying that
Christ is really present, yet not locally ? I will make a sug-
gestion on the subject. What do we mean by being present ?
How do we define and measure it ? To a blind and deaf man,
that only is present which he touches : give him hearing, and the
range of things present enlarges ; every thing is present to him
which he hears. Give him at length sight, and the sun may be
said to be present to him in the day time, and myriads of stars
by night. The presence, then, of a thing is a relative word,
depending, in a popular sense of it, upon the channels of com-
munication between it and him to whom it is present ; and thus
it is a word of degree.
" Such is the meaning of presence, when used of material
objects ; — very different from this is the conception we form of
the presence of spirit with spirit. The most intimate presence
Transubstantiation. 55
we can fancy is a spiritual presence in the soul ; it is nearer to
us than any material object can possibly be ; for our body, which
is the organ of conveying to us the presence of matter, sets
bounds to its approach towards us. If, then, spiritual beings
can be brought near to us, (and that they can, we know, from
what is told us of the influences of Divine grace, and again of
evil angels upon our souls) their presence is something sui
generis, of a more perfect and simple character than any presence
we commonly call local. And further, their presence has nothing
to do with the degrees of nearness ; they are either present or not
present, or, in other words, their coming is not measured by
space, nor their absence ascertained by distance. In the case of
things material, a transit through space is the necessary condition
of approach and presence ; but in things spiritual, (whatever be
the condition,) such a transit seems not to be a condition. The
condition is unknown. Once more : while beings simply spiritual
seem not to exist in place, the Incarnate Son does ; according
to our Church's statement already alluded to, that * the natural
body and blood of our Saviour Christ are in heaven and not
here, it being against the truth of Christ's natural body to be at
one time in more places than one.'
" Such seems to be the mystery attending our Lord and
Saviour ; He has a body, and that spiritual. He is in place ; and
yet, as being a spirit, His mode of approach — the mode in which
He makes Himself present here or there — may be, for what we
know, as different from the mode in which material bodies
approach and come, as a spiritual presence is more perfect. As
material bodies approach by moving from place to place, so the
approach and presence of a spiritual body may be in some other
way, — probably is in some other way, since in some other way,
(as it would appear) not gradual, progressive, approximating, that
is, locomotive, but at once, spirits become present, — may be such
as to be consistent with His remaining on God's right hand while
He becomes present here, — that is, it may be real yet not local,
or, in a word, is mysterious. The Body and Blood of Christ may
be really, literally present in the holy Eucharist, yet not having
become present by local passage, may still literally and really be
56 Transubstantialion.
on God's right hand ; so that, though they be present in deed
and truth, it may be impossible, it may be untrue to say, that
they are literally in the elements, or about them, or in the soul of
the receiver. These may be useful modes of speech according
to the occasion ; but the true determination of all such questions
may be this, that Christ's Body and Blood are locally at God's
right hand, yet rQFiWy present here, — present here, but not here in
place, — because they are spirit.
" To assist our conceptions on this subject, I would recur to
what I said just now about the presence of material objects, by
way of putting my meaning in a different point of view. The
presence of a material object, in the popular sense of the word,
is a matter of degree, and ascertained by the means of appre-
hending it which belong to him to whom it is present. It is in
some sense a correlative of the senses. A fly may be as near
an edifice as a man ; yet we do not call it present to the fly,
because it cannot see it ; and we call it present to the man
because he can. This, however, is but a popular view of the
matter : when we consider it carefully, it certainly is difficult to
say what is meant by the presence of a material object relatively
to us. It is in some respects truer to say that a thing is present,
which is so circumstanced as to act upon us and influence us,
whether we are sensible of it or not. Now this is what the
Catholic Church seems to hold concerning our Lord's Presence
in the Sacrament, that He then personally and bodily is with
us in the way an object is which we call present : how He is so,
we know not, but that He should be so, though He be millions
of miles away, is not more inconceivable than the influence of
eyesight upon us is to a blind man. The stars are millions of miles
off, yet they impress ideas upon our souls through our sight.
We know but of five senses : we know not whether or not human
nature be capable of more ; we know not whether or not the
soul possesses anything analogous to them. We know nothing to
negative the notion that the soul may be capable of having Christ
present to it by the stimulating of dormant, or the development
of possible energies.
" As sight for certain purposes annihilates space, so other un-
Transitbstantiation. 57
known capacities, bodily oi* spiritual, may annihilate it for other
purposes. Such a practical annihilation was involved in the ap-
pearance of Christ to St. Paul on his conversion. Such a prac-
tical annihilation is involved in the doctrine of Christ's ascen-
sion ; to speak according to the ideasjof space and time commonly
received, what must have been the rapidity of that motion
by which, within ten days, He placed our human nature at the
right hand of God ? Is it more mysterious that He should * open
the heavens,' to use the Scripture phrase, in the sacramental
rite ; that He should then dispense with time and space, in the
sense in which they are daily dispensed with, in the sun's
warming us at the distance of 100,000,000 of miles, than that
He should have dispensed with them on occasion of His ascend-
ing on high ? He who showed what the passage of an incor-
ruptible body was ere it had reached God's throne, thereby sug-
gests to us what may be its coming back and presence with us
now, when at length glorified and become spirit.
" In answer, then, to the problem, hoiv Christ comes to us
while remaining on high, I answer just as much as this, — that He
comes by the agency of the Holy Ghost, in and by the Sacj-a-
ment. Locomotion is the means of a material Presence ; the
Sacrament is the means of His spiritual Presence. As faith is
the means of our receiving It, so the Holy Ghost is the Agent
and the Sacrament the means of His imparting It ; and therefore
we call It a Sacramental Presence. We kneel before His hea-
venly Throne, and the distance is as nothing : it is as if that
Throne were the Altar close to us.
" Let it be carefully observed, that I am not proving or deter-
mining anything ; I am only showing how it is that certain pro-
positions which at first sight seem contradictions in terms, are
not so, — I am but pointing out one way of reconciling them. If
there is but one way assignable, the force of all antecedent ob-
jection against the possibility of any at all is removed, and then of
course there may be other ways supposable though not assign-
able. It seems at first sight a mere idle use of words to say that
Christ is really and literally, yet not locally, present in the Sa-
crament ; that He is there given to us, not in figure but in truth,
58 Transubstantiation,
and yet is still only on the right hand of God. I have wished to
remove this seeming impossibility.
" If it be asked, why attempt to remove it, I answer that I have
no wish to do so, if persons will not urge it against the Catholic
doctrine. Men maintain it as an impossibility, a contradiction
in terms, and force a believer in it to say why it should not be so
accounted. And then when he gives a reason, they turn round
and accuse him of subtleties, and refinements, and scholastic
trifling. Let them but believe and act on the truth that the con-
secrated bread is Christ's body, as He says, and no officious
comment on His words will be attempted by any well-judging
mind. But when they say ' this cannot be literally true, because
it is impossible ;' then they force those who think it is literally
true, to explain how, according to their notions, it is not impos-
sible. And those who ask hard questions must put up with hard
answers."
There is nothing, then, in the Explanatory Paragraph which
has given rise to these remarks, to interfere with the doctrine,
elsewhere taught in our formularies, of a real super-local pre-
sence in the Holy Sacrament.
59
§ 9. — Masses,
Article xxxi. — " The sacrifice (sacrificia) of Masses, in which it
was commonly said, that the priests did ofFer Christ for the
quick and the dead, to have remission of pain or guilt, were blas-
phemous fables and dangerous deceits (perniciosae imposturae)."
Nothing can show more clearly than this passage that the
Articles are not written against the creed of the Roman Church,
but against actual existing errors in it, whether taken into its
system or not. Here the sacrifice of the Mass is not spoken of,
in which the special question of doctrine would be introduced ;
but *' the sacrifice of Masses" certain observances, for the most
part private and solitary, which the writers of the Articles knew
to have been in force in time past, and saw before their eyes,
and which involved certain opinions and a certain teaching. Ac-
cordingly the passage proceeds, " in which it was commonly said;"
which surely is a strictly historical mode of speaking.
If any testimony is necessary in aid of what is so plain from
the wording of the Article itself, it is found in the drift of the
following passage from Burnet : —
" It were easy from all the rituals of the ancients to shew, that they had
none of those ideas that are now in the Roman Church. They had but one
altar in a Church, and probably but one in a city : they had but one commu-
nion in a day at that altar : so far were they from the many altars in every
church, and the many masses at every altar, that are now in the Roman Church.
They did not know what solitary masses were, without a communion. AH the
liturgies and all the writings of ancients are as express in this matter as is pos-
lible. The whole constitution of their worship and discipline shews it. Their
worship always concluded with the Eucharist : such as were not capable of it,
as the catechumens, and those who were doing public penance for their sins,
assisted at the more general parts of the worship; and so much of it was called
their mass, because they were dismissed at the conclusion of it. When that
was done, then the faithful stayed, and did partake of the Eucharist ; and at
the conclusion of it they were likewise dismissed, from whence it came to be
called the mass of the faithful." — Burnet on the XXXIst Article, p. 482.
These sacrifices are said to be " blasphemous fables and perni-
cious impostures." Now the " blasphemous fable " is the teach-
60 Masses.
ing that there is a sacrifice for sin other than Christ's death,
and that masses are that sacrifice. And the " pernicious im-
posture" is the turning this belief into a means of filthy lucre.
1. That the " blasphemous fable " is the teaching that masses
are sacrifices for sin distinct from the sacrifice of Christ's death,
is plain from the first sentence of the Article. " The offering
of Christ once made, is that perfect redemption, propitiation,
and satisfaction for all the sins of the ivhole world, both original
and actual. And there is none other satisfaction for sin, but that
alone. Wherefore the sacrifice of masses, &c." It is observable
too that the heading of the Article runs, " Of the one oblation of
Christ finished upon the Cross," vvhicb interprets the drift of
the statement contained in it about masses.
Our Communion Service shows it also, in which the prayer of
consecration commences pointedly with a declaration, which has
the force of a protest, that Christ made on the cross, " by His
one oblation of Himself once oflfered, a full, perfect, and sufficient
sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole
world."
And again in the offering of the sacrifice : '* We entirely desire
thy fatherly goodness mercifully to accept our sacrifice of praise
and thanksgiving, most humbly beseeching Thee to grant that
by the merits and death of thy Son Jesus Christ, and through
faith in His blood, we and all Thy whole Church may obtain
remission of our sins and all other benefits of His passion."
[And in the notice of the celebration : " I purpose, through
God's assistance, to administer to all such as shall be religiously
and devoutly disposed, the most comfortable Sacrament of the
Body and Blood of Christ ; to be by them received in remem-
brance of His meritorious Cross and Passion ; whereby alone we
obtain remission of our sins, and are made partakers of the king-
dom of heaven."]
But the popular charge still urged against the Roman system,
as introducing in the Mass a second or rather continually re-
curring atonement, is a suflacient illustration, without further
quotations, of this part of the Article.
2. That the " blasphemous and pernicious imposture" is the
Masses. 61
turning the Mass into a gain, is plain from such passages as the
following : —
" With what earnestness, with what vehement zeal, did our Saviour Christ
drive the buyers and sellers out of the temple of God, and hurled down the
tables of the changers of money, and the seats of the dove-sellers, and could
not abide that a man should carry a vessel through the temple. He told them,
that they had made His Father's house a den of thieves, partly through their
superstition, hypocrisy, false worship, false doctrine, and insatiable covetous-
ness, and partly through contempt, abusing that place with walking and talk-
ing, with worldly matters, without all fear of God, and due reverence to that
place. What dens of thieves the Churches of England have been made by the
blasphemous buying and selling the most precious body and blood of Christ in
the Mass, as the world was made to believe, at dirges, at months minds, at
trentalls, in abbeys and chantries, besides other horrible abuses, (God's holy
name be blessed for ever,) which we now see and understand. All these abo-
minations they that supply the room of Christ have cleansed and purged the
Churches of England of, taking away all such fulsomeness and filthiness, as
through blind devotion and ignorance hath crept into the Church these many
hundred years." — On repairing and keeping clean of Churches, pp. 229, 230.
Other passages are as follow : —
" Have not the Christians of late days, and even in our days also, in like
manner provoked the displeasure and indignation of Almighty God ; partly
because they have profaned and defiled their Churches with heathenish and
Jewish abuses, with images and idols, with numbers of altars, too supersti-
liously and intolerably abused, with gross abusing and filthy corrupting of the
Lord's holy Supper, the blessed sacrament of His body and blood, with an
infinite number of toys and trifles of their own devices, to make a goodly out-
ward shew, and to deface the homely, simple, and sincere religion of Christ
Jesus; partly, they resort to the Church like hypocrites, full of all iniquity
and sinful life, having a vain and dangerous fancy and persuasion, that if they
come to the Church, besprinkle them with holy water, hear a mass, and be
blessed with a chalice, though they understand not one word of the whole
service, nor feel one motion of repentance in their heart, all is well, all is
sure ? " — On the Place and Time of Prayer, p. 293.
Again : —
" What hath been the cause of this gross idolatry, but the ignorance hereof?
What hath been the cause of this niummish massing, but the ignorance hereof?
Yea, what hath been, and what is at this day the cause of this want of love and
charity, but the ignorance hereof? Let us therefore so travel to understand the
Lord's Supper, that we be no cause of the decay of God's worship, of no
idolatry, of no dumb massing, of no hate and malice ; so may we the boldlier have
access thither to our comfort." — Homily concerning the Sacrament, pp. 377, 378.
62 Masses.
To the same purpose is the following passage from Bishop
Bull's Sermons : —
" It were easy to shew, how the whole frame of religion and doctrine of the
Church of Rome, as it is distinguished from that Christianity which we hold
in common with them, is evidently designed and contrived lo serve the interest
mid profit of them that rule the Church, by the disservices, yea, and ruin of
those souls that are under their government What can the doctrine of
men's playing an aftergame for their salvation in purgatory be designed for,
but to enhance the price of the priest's masses and dirges for the dead ? Why
must a solitary mass, bought for a piece of money, performed and participated
by a priest alone, in a private corner of a church, be, not only against the
sense of Scripture and the Primitive Church, but also against common sense
and grammar, called a Communion, and be accounted useful to him that buys
it, though he never himself receive the sacrament, or but once a year; but for
this reason, that there is great gain, but no godliness at all, in this doctrine ?"
— Bp. Bull's Sej-mons, p. 10.
And Burnet says,
" Without going far in tragical expressions, we cannot hold saying what our
Saviour said upon another occasion, ' My house is a house of prayer, but ye
have made it a den of thieves.' A trade was set up on this foundation. The
world was made believe, that by the virtue of so many masses, which were to be
purchased by great endowments, souls were redeemed out of purgatory, and
scenes of visions and apparitions, sometimes of the tormented, and sometimes
of the delivered souls, were published in all places : which had so wonderful an
effect, that in two or three centuries, endowments increased to so vast a degree,
that if the scandals of the clergy on the one hand, and the statutes of mort-
main on the other, had not restrained the profuseness that the world was
wrought up to on this account, it is not easy to imagine how far this might
have gone ; perhaps to an entire subjecting of the temporality to the spirituality.
The practices by which this was managed, and the eflFects that followed on it, we
can call by no other name than downright impostures ; worse than the making
or vending false coin: when the world was drawn in by such arts to plain
bargains, to redeem their own souls, and the souls of their ancestors and pos-
terity, so many masses were to be said, and forfeitures were to follow upon their
not being said : thus the masses were really the price of the lands." — On Article
XXII., pp. 303, 304.
The truth of these representations cannot be better shewn
than by extracting the following passage from the Session 22 of
the Council of Trent : —
" Whereas many things appear to have crept in heretofore, whether by the
fault of the times or by the neglect and wickedness of men, foreign to the
Masses. 63
dignity of so great a sacrifice, In order that it may regain its due honour and
observance, to the glory of GoD and the edification of His faithful people, the
Holy Council decrees, that the bishops, ordinaries of each place, diligently take
care and be bound, to forbid and put an end to all those things, which either
avarice, which is idolatry, or irreverence, which is scarcely separable from
impiety, or superstition, the pretence of true piety, has introduced. And to
say much in a few words, first of all, as to avarice, let them altogether forbid
agreements, and bargains of payment of whatever kind, and whatever is given
for celebrating new masses ; moreover importunate and mean extortion, rather
than petition of alms, and such like practices, which border on simoniacal sin,
certainly on filthy lucre .... And let them banish from the church those mu-
sical practices, when with the organ or with the chant any thing lascivious or im-
pure is mingled; also all secular practices, vain and therefore profane conversa-
tions, promenadings, bustle, clamour ; so that the house of God may truly seem
and be called the house of prayer. Lastly, lest any opening be given to super-
stition, let them provide by edict and punishments appointed, that the priests
celebrate it at no other than the due hours, nor use rites or ceremonies and
prayers in the celebration of masses, other than those which have been ap-
proved by the Church, and received on frequent and laudable use. And let
them altogether remove from the Church a set number of certain masses and
candles, which has proceeded rather from superstitious observance than from
true religion, and teach the people in what consists, and from whom, above
all, proceeds the so precious and heavenly fruit of this most holy sacrifice.
And let them admonish the same people to come frequently to their parish
Churches, at least on Sundays and the greater feasts," &c.
On the whole, then, it is conceived that the Article before us
neither speaks against the Mass in itself, nor against its being [an
offering, though commemorative,"] ^ for the quick and the dead for
the remission of sin ; [(especially since the decree of Trent says,
that " the fruits of the Bloody Oblation are through this most
abundantly obtained ; so far is the latter from detracting in any
way from the former ;")] but against its being viewed, on the one
hand, as independent of or distinct from the Sacrifice on the Cross,
which is blasphemy ; and, on the other, its being directed to the
emolument of those to whom it pertains to celebrate it, which is
imposture in addition.
^ " An offering for the quick," &c.— First Edition.
64
§ 10. — Marriage of Clergy.
Article xxxii. — " Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, are not com-
manded by God's law, either to vow the estate of single life, or
to abstain from marriage."
There is literally no subject for controversy in these words,
since even the most determined advocates of the celibacy of the
clergy admit their truth. [As far as clerical celibacy is a duty, it]
is grounded not on God's law, but on the Church's rule, or on
vow. No one, for instance, can question the vehement zeal of
St. Jerome in behalf of this observance, yet he makes the follow-
ing admission in his attack upon Jovinian : —
" Jovinian says, ' You speak in vain, since the Apostle appointed Bishops,
and Presbyters, and Deacons, the husbands of one wife, and having children.
But, as the Apostle says, that he has not a precept concerning virgins, yet
gives a counsel, as having received mercy of the Lord, and urges throughout
that discourse a preference of virginity to marriage, and advises what he docs
not command, lest he seem to cast a snare, and to impose a burden too great for
man's nature ; so also, in ecclesiastical order, seeing that an infant Church was
then forming out of the Gentiles, he gives the lighter precepts to recent con-
verts, lest they should fail under them through fear." — Adv. Jovinian, i. 34.
And the Council of Trent merely lays down : —
" If any shall say that clerks in holy orders, or regulars, who have solemnly
professed chastity, can contract matrimony, and that the contract is valid in
spite of ecclesiastical law or vow, let him be anathema." — Sess. 24, Can. 9.
Here the observance is placed simply upon rule of the Church
or upon vow, neither of which exists in the English Church ;
** f/iere/bre," as the Article logically proceeds, " it is lawful for
them, as for all other Christian men, to marry at their own discre-
tion, as they shall judge the same to serve better to godliness."
Our Church leaves the discretion with the clergy ; and most per-
sons will allow that, titider our circumstances, she acts wisely in
doing so. That she has porver, did she so choose, to take from thera
this discretion, and to oblige them either to marriage [(as is said
to be the case as regards the parish priests of the Greek Church)]
or to celibacy, would seem to be involved in the doctrine of the
following extract from the Homilies ; though, whether an en-
Marriage of Clergy. 65
forcement either of the one or the other rule would he expedient
and pious, is another matter. Speaking of fasting, the Homily
says : —
" God's Church ought not, neither may it, be so tied to that or any other
order now made, or hereafter to be made and devised by the authority of man,
but that it may lawfully, for just causes, alter, change, or mitigate those eccle-
siastical decrees and orders, yea, recede wholly from them, and break them, when
they tend either to superstition or to impiety ; when they draw the people from
God rather than work any edification in them. This authority Christ Him-
self used, and left it to His Church. He used it, I say, for the order or decree
made by the elders for washing ofttiraes, which was diligently observed of the
Jews ; yet tending to superstition, our Saviour Christ altered and changed the
same in His Church into a profitable sacrament, the sacrament of our regenera-
tion, or new birth. This authority to mitigate laws and decrees ecclesiastical,
the Apostles practised, when they, writing from Jerusalem unto the congrega-
tion that was at Antioch, signified unto them, that they would not lay any fur-
ther burden upon them, but these necessaries : that is, * that they should abstain
from things offered unto idols, from blood, from that which is strangled, and
from fornication ;' notwithstanding that Moses's law required many other ob-
servances. This authority to change the orders, decrees, and constitutions of
the Church, was, after the Apostles' time, used of the fathers about the manner
of fasting, as it appeareth in the Tripartite History Thus ye have
heard, good people, first, that Christian subjects are bound even in conscience to
obey princes' laws, which are not repugnant to the laws of God. Ye have also
heard that Christ's Church is not so bound to observe any order, law, or
decree made by man, to prescribe a form in religion, but that the Church hath
full power and authority from God to change and alter the same, when need
shall require ; which hath been shewed you by the example of our Saviour
Christ, by the practice of the Apostles, and of the Fathers since that time." —
Homily on Fasting, p. 242 — 244.
To the same effect the 34th Article declares, that,
" It is not necessary that traditions and ceremonies be in all places one, and
utterly like ; for at all times they have been divers, and may be changed accord-
ing to diversities of countries, times, and men's manners, so that nothing be
ordained against God's Word. Whosoever, through his private judgment, will-
ingly and purposely doth openly break the traditions and ceremonies of the
Church, which be not repugnant to the Word of God, and be ordained and ap-
proved by common authority, ought to be rebuked openly." — Article XXXIV.
VOL. VI.-— 90.
CO
§ 11 . — The Homilies.
Art. XXXV. — "The second Book of Homilies doth contain a
godly and wholesome doctrine, and necessary for these times, as
doth the former Book of Homilies."
This Article has been treated of in No. 82 of these Tracts, in
the course of an answer given to an opponent, who accused its
author of not fairly receiving the Homilies, because he dissented
from their doctrine, that the Bishop of Rome is Antichrist, and
that regeneration was vouchsafed under the law. The passage
of the Tract shall here be inserted, with some abridgment.
*' I say plainly, then, I have not subscribed the Homilies, nor
was it ever intended that any member of the English Church
should be subjected to what, if considered as an extended
confession, would indeed be a yoke of bondage. Romanism
surely is innocent, compared with that system which should
impose upon the conscience a thick octavo volume, written flow-
ingly and freely by fallible men, to be received exactly, sentence
by sentence : I cannot conceive any grosser instance of a Phari-
saical tradition than this would be. No : such a proceeding
would render it impossible (I would say) for any one member,
lay or clerical, of the Church to remain in it, who was sub-
jected to such an ordeal. For instance ; I do not suppose that
any reader would be satisfied with the political reasons for
fasting, though indirectly introduced, yet fully admitted and
dwelt upon in the Homily on that subject. He would not
like to subscribe the declaration that eating fish was a duty, not
only as Ceing a kind of fasting, but as making provisions cheap,
and encouraging the fisheries. He would not like the association
of religion with earthly politics.
" How, then, are we bound to the Homilies ? By the Thirty-
fifth Article, which speaks as follows : — • The second Book of
The Homilies. 67
Homilies . . . doth contain a godly and -wholesome doctrine, and
necessary for these times, as doth the former Book of Homilies.'
Now, observe, this Article does not speak of every statement
made in them, but of the ' doctrine.' It speaks of the view or
cast, or body of doctrine contained in them. In spite of ten
thousand incidental propositions, as in any large book, there is,
it is obvious, a certain line of doctrine, which may be contem-
plated continuously in its shape and direction. For instance ; if
you say you disapprove the doctrine contained in the Tracts for
the Times, no one supposes you to mean that every sentence and
half sentence is a lie. I say then, that, in like manner, when the
Article speaks of the doctrine of the Homilies, it does not mea-
sure the letter of them by the inch, it does not imply that they
contain no propositions which admit of two opinions ; but it
speaks of a certain determinate line of doctrine, and moreover
adds, it is ' necessary for these times.' Does not this, too, show
the same thing ? If a man said, the Tracts for the Times are
seasonable at this moment, as their title signifies, would he not
speak of them as taking a certain line, and bearing in a certain
way 1 Would he not be speaking, not of phrases or sentences,
but of a ' doctrine ' in them tending one way, viewed as a whole ?
Would he be inconsistent, if after praising them as seasonable,
he continued, ' yet I do not pledge myself to every view or
sentiment; there are some things in them hard of digestion, or
overstated, or doubtful, or subtle V
" If any thing could add to the irrelevancy of the charge in
question, it is the particular point in which it is urged that I
dissent from the Homilies, — a question concerning the fulfilment
of prophecy; viz., whether Papal Rome is Antichrist! An
iron yoke indeed you would forge for the conscience, when you
oblige us to assent, not only to all matters of doctrine which the
Homilies contain, but even to their opinion concerning the fulfil-
ment of prophecy. Why, we do not ascribe authority in such
matters even to the unanimous consent of all the fathers.
*' I will put what I have been saying in a second point of
view. The Homilies are subsidiary to the Articles ; therefore
they are of authority so far as they bring out the sense of the
F 2
68 The Homilies.
Articles, and are not of authority -where they do not. For in-
stance, they say that David, though unbaptized, was regenerated,
as you have quoted. This statement cannot be of authority,
because it not only does not agree, but it even disagrees, with
the ninth Article, which translates the Latin word * renatis ' by
the English ' baptized.' But, observe, if this mode of viewing
the Homilies be taken, as it fairly may, you suffer from it ; for
the Apocrypha, being the subject of an Article, the comment fur-
nished in the Homily is binding on you, whereas you reject it,
" A further remark will bring us to the same point. Another
test of acquiescence in the doctrine of the Homilies is this : —
Take their table of contents ; examine the headings ; these
surely, taken together, will give the substance of their teaching.
Now I hold fully and heartily the doctrine of the Homilies,
under every one of these headings : the only points to which
I should not accede, nor think myself called upon to accede,
would be certain matters, subordinate to the doctrines to which
the headings refer — matters not of doctrine, but of opinion, as,
that Rome is the Antichrist ; or of historical fact, as, that there
was a Pope Joan. But now, on the other hand, can you sub-
scribe the doctrine of the Homilies under every one of its for-
mal headings ? I believe you cannot. The Homily against
Disobedience and Wilful Rebellion is, in many of its ele-
mentary principles, decidedly uncongenial with your senti-
ments."
This illustration of the subject may be thought enough ; yet it
may be allowable to add from the Homilies a number of pro-
positions and statements of more or less importance, which are
too much forgotten at this day, and are decidedly opposed to the
views of certain schools of religion, which at the present moment
are so eager in claiming the Homilies to themselves. This is
not done, as the extract already read will show, with the inten-
tion of maintaining that they are one and all binding on the con-
science of those who subscribe the Thirty-fifth Article ; but since
the strong language of the Homilies against the Bishop of Rome
is often quoted, as if it were thus proved to be the doctrine of
our Church, it may be as well to show that, following the same
The HomiUes. 69
rule, we shall be also introducing Catholic doctrines, which in-
deed it far more belongs to a Church to profess than a certain
view of prophecy, but which do not approve themselves to those
who hold it. For instance, we read as follows : —
1. "The great clerk and godly preacher, St. John Chrysos-
tom." — 1 B. i. 1. And, in like manner, mention is made else-
where of St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, St. Hilary, St. Basil, St.
Cyprian, St. Hierome, St. Martin, Origan, Prosper, Ecumenius,
Photius, Bernardus, Anselm, Didymus, Theophylactus, Tertullian,
Athanasius, Lactantius, Cyrillus, Epiphanius, Gregory, Irenaeus,
Clemens, Rabanus, Isidoras, Eusebius, Justinus Martyr, Optatus,
Eusebius Emissenus, and Bede.
2. " Infants, being baptized, and dying in their infancy, are by
this Sacrifice washed from their sins . . . and they, which in act
or deed do sin after this baptism, when they turn to God un-
feignedly, they are likewise washed by this Sacrifice," &c. —
1. B. iii. 1. init.
3. " Our office is, not to pass the time of this present life un-
fruitfully and idly, after that we are baptized or justified" &c. —
1 B. iii. 3.
4. " By holy promises we be made lively members of CiirasT,
receiving the sacrament of Baptism. By like holy promises
the sacrament of Matrimony knitteth man and wife in perpetual
love." — 1 B. vii. 1.
5. " Let us learn also here [in the Book of Wisdom,] by the
injallihle and undeceivahle JFord of God, that," &c. — 1 B. x. 1.
6. *' The due receiving of His blessed Body and Blood, under
the form of bread and wine." — Note at end ofB. i.
7. " In the Primitive Church, which was most holy and godly
. . . open oflTenders were not suffered once to enter into the
house of the Lord . . . until they had done open penance . . .
but this was practised, not only upon mean persons, but also
upon the rich, noble and mighty persons, yea, upon Theodosius,
that puissant and mighty Emperor, whom ... St. Ambrose . . .
did . . . excommunicate." — 2 B. i. 2.
8. •' Open offenders were not . . . admitted to comiTjon
prayer, and the use of the holy sacraments," — Ibid.
70 The Homilies.
9. " Let us amend this our negligence and contempt in coming
to the house of the Loud ; and resorting thither diligently
together, let us there . . . celebrating also reverently the
Lord's holy sacraments, serve the Lord in His holy house."
—Ibid. 5.
10. " Contrary to the . . . most manifest doctrine of the
Scriptures, and contrary to the usages of the Primitive Church,
ivhich was most pure and uncorrupt, and contrary to the sentences
and judgments of the most ancient, learned, and godly doctors of
the Church."— 2 13. ii. 1. init.
IL " This truth . . . was believed and taught by the old
holy fathers, and most ancient learned doctors, and received by
the old Primitive Church, mkich was most uncorrupt and pure"
—2 B. ii. 2. init.
12. "Athanasius, a very ancient, holy, and learned bishop
and doctor." — Ibid.
13. " Cyrillus, an old and holy doctor." — Ibid.
14. " Epiphanius, Bishop of Salamine, in Cyprus, a very holy
and learned man." — Ibid.
15. "To whose (Epiphanius's) judgment you have ... all
the learned and godly bishops and clerks, yea, and the whole
Church of that age," [the Nicene] " and so upward to our
Saviour Christ's time, by the space of about four hundred
years, consenting and agreeing." — Ibid.
16. " Epiphanius, a bishop and doctor of such antiquity, holi-
ness, and authority." — Ibid.
17. "St. Augustine, the best learned of all ancient doctors."
—Ibid.
18. " That ye may know why and when, and by whom images
were first used privately, and afterwards not only received into
Christian churches and temples, but, in seclusion, worshipped
also ; and how the same was gainsaid, resisted, and forbidden,
as well by godly bishops and learned doctors, as also by sundry
Christian princes, I will briefly collect," &c. [The bishops and
doctors which follow are :] " St. Jerome, Serenus, Gregory, the
Fathers of the Council of Eliberis."
19. '* Constantine, Bishop of Rome, assembled a Council of
The Homilies. 71
bishops of the West, and did condemn Philippicus, the Emperor,
and John, Bishop of Constantinople, of the heresy of the Mono-
iheliles, not without a cause indeed, but very justly," — Ibid.
20. " Those six Councils, ivhich were alloned and received of
all men." — Ibid.
21. ** There were no images publicly by the space of almost
seven hundred years. And there is no doubt but the Primitive
Church, next the Apostles' times, was juost jmre." — Ibid.
22. " Let us beseech God that we, being warned by His holy
Word . . . and by the writings of old godly doctors and eccle-
siastical histories," &c. — Ibid.
23. " It shall be declared, both by God's Word, and the sen-
tences of the ancient doctors, and judgment of the Primitive
Church," &c.— 2 B. ii. 3.
24. " Saints, whose souls reign in joy with God." — Ibid.
25. " That the law of God is likewise to be understood ag&inst
all our images . . . appeareth further by the judgment of the
old doctors and the Primitive Church." — Ibid.
26. " The Primitive Church, which is specially to be followed,
as most incorrupt and pure." — Ibid.
27. " Thus it is declared by God's Word, the sentences of the
doctors, and the judgment ofthe Primitive Church." — Ibid.
28. *' The rude people, who specially, as the Scripture teacheth,
are in danger of superstition and idolatry ; viz. Wisdom xiii.
xiv." — Ibid.
29. " They [the * learned and holy bishops and doctors of the
Church' of the eight first centuries] were the preaching bishops
. . . And as they were most zealous and diligent, so were they of
excellent learning and godliness of life, and by both of great
authority and credit with the people." — Ibid.
30. " The most virtuous and best learned, the most diligent
also, and in number almost infinite, ancient fathers, bishops, and
doctors .... could do nothing against images and idolatry." —
Ibid.
31. "As the JFord of God testifieth, Wisdom xiv."— /6/f/.
32. " The saints, now reigning in heaven with God." — Ibid.
72 The Homilies.
83. ** The fountain of our regeneration is there [in God's house]
presented unto us." — 2 B. iii.
36. " Somewhat shall now be spoken of one particular good
ivorl', whose commendation is both in the Law and in the Gospel
[fasting]."— 2 B. iv. 1.
.37. " If any man shall say . . . we are not now under the yoke
of the Law, we are set at liberty by the freedom of the Gospel :
therefore these rites and customs of the old law bind not us,
except it can be showed by the Scriptures of the New Testament,
or by examples out of the same, that fasting, now under the Gos-
pel, is a resirainl of meat, drink, and all bodily food and -pleasures
from the body, as before : first, that we ought to fast, is a truth
more manifest, then it should here need to be j^roved .... Fasting,
even by Christ's assent, is a withholding meat, drink, and all
natural food from the body," &c. — Ibid.
38. " That it [fasting] was used in the Primitive Church,
appeareth most evidently by the Chalcedon council, one of the
four frst general councils. The fathers assembled there
decreed in that council that every person, as well in his private
as public fast, should continue all the day without meat and
drink, till after the evening prayer This Canon teacheth
how fasting was used in the Primitive Church." — Ibid. [The
Council was a.d. 452.]
39. " Fasting, then, by the decree of those 630 ^&\h.Qxs, grounding
their determinations in this matter upon the sacred Scriptures . . .
is a withholding of meat, drink, and all natural food from the
body, for the determined time of fasting." — Ibid.
40. " The order or decree made by the elders for washing oft-
times, tending to superstition, our Saviour Christ altered and
changed the same in His Church, into a profitable sacrament, the
sacrament of our regeneration or new birth.'' — 2 B. iv. 2.
41. *' Fasting thus used with prayer is of great ejficacy and
Kcighcth much with God, so the angel Raphael told Tobias." —
Ibid.
42. " As he " [St. Augustine] " witnesseth in another place,
tliJ ni;ivtyrs and holy men in times past, were wont after their
The Homilies. 73
death to be remembered and named of the priest at divine service ;
but never to be invocated or called upon." — 2 B. vii. 2.
43. ** Thus you see that the authority both of Scripture and also
of Augustine, doth not admit that we should pray to them." —
Ibid.
44. " To temples have the Christians customably used to resort
from time to time as to most meet places, where they might . . .
receive His holy sacraments ministered unto them duly and
purely." — 2 B. viii. 1.
45. " The which thing both Christ and His apostles, with all
the rest of the holy fathers, do sufficiently declare so." — Ibid.
AG. " Our godly predecessors, and the ancient fathers of the
Primitive Church, spared not their goods to build churches." —
Ibid.
47. "If we will show ourselves true Christians, if we will be
followers of Christ our Master, and of those godly fathers that
have lived before us, and now have received the reward of true
and faithful Christians," &c. — Ibid.
48. " We must . . . come unto the material churches and
temples to pray .... whereby we may reconcile ourselves to
God, be partakers of His holy sacraments, and be devout hearers
of His holy Word," &c.—Ibid.
49. " It [ordination] lacks the promise of remission of sin, as
all other sacraments besides the two above named do. Therefore
neither it, nor any other sacrament else, be such sacraments as
Baptism and the Communion are." — 2 Hom. ix.
50. " Thus we are taught, both by the Scriptures and ancient
doctors, that," &c. — Ibid,
51. *' The holy apostles and disciples of Christ . . . the godly
fathers also, that were both before and since Christ, endued with-
out doubt with the Holy Ghost, .... they both do most earnestly
exhort us, &c that we should remember the poor ....
St. Paul crieth unto us after this sort .... Isaiah the Prophet
teaches us on this wise .... And the holy father Tobit giveth
this counsel. And the learned and godly doctor Chrysostom
giveth this admonition But what mean these often admoni-
74 The Homilies.
tions and earnest exhortations of the prophets, apostles, fathers,
and holy doctors ?" — 2 B. xi. 1.
52. '« The holy fathers, Job and Tobit."— /iirf.
53. " Christ, whose especial favour we may be assured by
this means to obtain," [viz. by almsgiving] — 2 B. xi. 2.
54. " Now will I . . . show unto you how prof table it is for us
to exercise them [alms-deeds] . . . [Christ's saying] serveth to
. . . prick us forwards ... to learn . . . how we may recover our
health, if it be lost or impaired, and how it may be defended and
maintained if we have it. Yea, He teacheth us also therefore to
esteem that as a precious medicine and an inestimable jewel, that
hath such strength and virtue in it, that can either procure or pre-
serve so incomparable a treasure." — Ibid.
55. '* Then He and His disciples were grievously accused of
the Pharisees, . . . because they went to meat and washed not
their hands before, . . . Christ, answering their superstitious com-
plaint, teacheth them an especial remedy how to keep clean their
souls, . . . Give alms," &c. — Ibid.
56. " Merciful alms-dealing is prq^/a6/e to purge the soul from
the infection andflthy spots of sin." — Ibid.
57. *' The same lesson doth the Holt Ghost teach in sundry
places of the Scripture, saying, ' Mercifulness and alms-giving,'
&c. [Tobit iv.] . . . The wise preacher, the son of Sirach, con-
firmeth the same, when he says, that ' as water quencheth burn-
ing fire,' " &c. — Ibid.
58. *• A great confidence may they have before the high God,
that show mercy and compassion to them that are afflicted." — Ibid.
59. *' If ye have by any infirmity or weakness been touched
or annoyed with them . . . straightway shall mercifulness wipe
and wash them away, as salves and remedies to heal their sores and
grievous diseases." — Ibid.
60. " And therefore that holy father Cyprian admonisheth to
consider how wholesome and profitable it is to relieve the needy,
&c by the which we may purge our sins and heal our
wounded souls." — Ibid.
61. " We be therefore washed in our baptism from the fillhiness
The Homilies. 75
of sin, that we should live afterwards in the pureness of life." —
2 B. xiii. 1.
62. " By these means [by love, compassion, &c.] shall we move
God to be merciful to our sins." — Ibid.
63. " 'He was dead,' saith St. Paul, 'for our sins, and rose
again for our justif cation' ... He died to destroy the rule of the
devil in us, and He rose again to send down His Holy Spirit
to rule in our hearts, to [endow] us with perfect righteousness."
— 2 B. xiv.
64. " The ancient Catholic fathers" [in marg.] Irenaeus, Igna-
tius, Dionysius, Origen, Optatus, Cyprian, Athanasius,
" were not afraid to call this supper, some of them, the salve of
immortality and sovereign preservative against death ; other, the
sweet dainties of our Saviour, the pledge of eternal health, the
defence of faith, the hope of the resurrection ; other, the /oorf of
immortality, the healthful grace, and the conservatory to everlast-
ing life."— 2 B. XV. 1.
65. " The meat we seek in this supper is spiritual food, the
nourishment of our soul, a heavenly refection, and not earthly ;
an invisible meat, and not bodily ; a ghostly substance, and not
carnal." — Ibid.
66. " Take this lesson ... of Emissenus, a godly father, that
. . . thou look up with faith upon the holy body and blood of thy
God, thou marvel with reverence, thou touch it with thy mind,
thou receive it with the hand of thy heart, and thou take it
fully with thy inward man." — Ibid.
67. " The saying of the holy martyr of God, St. Cyprian." —
2 B. XX. 3.
Thus we see the authority of the Fathers, of the six first
councils, and of the judgments of the Church generally, the
holiness of the Primitive Church, the inspiration of the Apo-
crypha, the sacramental character of Marriage, and other or-
dinances, the Real Presence in the Eucharist, the Church's
power of excommunicating kings, the profitableness of fasting,
the propitiatory virtue of good works, the Eucharistic commemo-
ration, and justification by a righteousness [within us,] ' are taught
• " By inherent righteousness." First edition.
76 The Homilies.
in the Homilies. Let it be said again, it is not here asserted that
a subscription to all and every of these quotations is involved in
the subscription of an Article which does but generally approve
the Homilies ; but they who insist so strongly on our Church's
holding that the Bishop of Rome is Antichrist because the
Homilies declare it, should recollect that there are other doctrines
contained in them beside it, which they [themselves] should be
understood to hold, before their argument has the force of con-
sistency.
^7
§ 12,— The Bishop of Rome.
Article xxxviii. — '* The Bishop of Rome hath no jurisdiction
in this realm of England."
By "hath" is meant "ought to have," as the Article in the
36th Canon and the Oath of Supremacy show, in which the same
doctrine is drawn out more at length. " No foreign prince, per-
son, prelate, state, or potentate, hath, or ought to have, any juris-
diction, power, superiority, pre-eminence, or authority, ecclesi-
astical or spiritual, within this realm."
This is the profession which every one must in consistency
make, who does not join the Roman Church. If the Bishop of
Rome has jurisdiction and authority here, why do we not acknow-
ledge it, and submit to him ? To say then the above words, is
nothing more or less than to say " I am not a Roman Catholic ;"
and whatever reasons there are against saying them, are so far
reasons against remaining in the English Church. They are a
mere enunciation of the principle of Anglicanism.
Anglicans maintain that the supremacy of the Pope is not
directly from revelation, but an event in Providence. All things
may be undone by the agents and causes by which they are done.
What revelation gives, revelation takes away ; what Providence
gives, Providence takes away. God ordained by miracle, He
reversed by miracle, the Jewish election ; He promoted in the
way of Providence, and He cast down by the same way, the
Roman empire. " The powers that be, are ordained of God,"
ivhile they be, and have a claim on our obedience. When they
cease to be, they cease to have a claim. They cease to be, when
God removes them. He may be considered to remove them
when He undoes what He had done. The Jewish election did
not cease to be, when the Jews went into captivity : this was an
event in Providence ; and Avhat miracle had ordained, it was mi-
racle that annulled. But the Roman power ceased to be when
the barbarians overthrew it ; for it rose by the sword, and it
therefore perished by the sword. The Gospel Ministry began in
78 The Bishop of Rome.
Christ and His Apostles ; and what they began, they only can
end. The Papacy began in the exertions and passions of man ;
and what man can make, man can destroy. Its jurisdiction, while
it lasted, was " ordained of God ; " when it ceased to be, it ceased
to claim our obedience ; and it ceased to be at the Reformation.
The Reformers, who could not destroy a Ministry, which the
Apostles began, could destroy a Dominion which the Popes
founded.
Perhaps the following passage will throw additional light upon
this point : —
*' The Anglican vitew of the Church has ever been this : that its
portions need not otherwise have been united together for their
essential completeness, than as being descended from one original.
They are like a number of colonies sent out from a mother-
country Each Church is independent of all the rest, and
is to act on the principle of what may be called Episcopal inde-
pendence, except, indeed, so far as the civil power unites any
number of them together Each diocese is a perfect inde-
pendent Church, sufficient for itself; and the communion of
Christians one with another, and the unity of them altogether,
lie, not in a mutual understanding, intercourse, and combination,
not in what they do in common, but in what they are and have
in common, in their possession of the Succession, their Episcopal
form, their Apostolical faith, and the use of the Sacraments. . .
Mutual intercourse is but an accident of the Church, not of its
essence Intercommunion is a duty, as other duties, but
is not the tenure or instrument of the communion between the
unseen world and this ; and much more the confederacy of sees
and churches, the metropolitan, patriarchal, and papal systems,
are matters of expedience or of natural duty from long custom,
or of propriety from gratitude and reverence, or of necessity from
voluntary oaths and engagements, or of ecclesiastical force from
the canons of Councils, but not necessary in order to the convey-
ance of grace, or for fulfilment of the ceremonial law, as it may
be called, of unity. Bishop is superior to bishop only in rank,
not in real power ; and the Bishop of Rome, the head of the
Catholic world, is not the centre of unity, except as having a
The Bishop of Rome. 79
primacy of order. Accordingly, even granting for argument's
sake, that the English Church violated a duty in the 16th
century, in releasing itself from the Roman supremacy, still it
did not thereby commit that special sin, which cuts off from it the
fountains of grace, and is called schism. It was essentially com-
plete without Rome, and naturally independent of it ; it had, in
the course of years, whether by usurpation or not, come under
the supremacy of Rome ; and now, whether by rebellion or not,
it is free from it : and as it did not enter into the Church invisible
by joining Rome, so it was not cast out of it by breaking from
Rome. These were accidents in its history, involving, indeed,
sin in individuals, but not affecting the Church as a Church;
** Accordingly, the Oath of Supremacy declares * that no foreign
prelate hath or ought to have any jurisdiction, power, pre-
eminence, or authority within this realm.' In other words, there
is nothing in the Apostolic system which gives an authority to the
Pope over the Church, such as it does not give to a Bishop. It
is altogether an ecclesiastical arrangement ; not a point dejide,
but of expedience, custom, or piety, which cannot be claimed as
if the Pope ought to have it, any more than, on the other hand,
the King could of Divine right claim the supremacy ; the claim
of both one and the other resting, not on duty or revelation, but
on specific engagement. We find ourselves, as a Church, under
the King now, and we obey him ; we were under the Pope for-
merly, and we obeyed him. ' Ought ' does not, in any degree,
come into the question."
80
Conclusion.
One remark may be made in conclusion. It may be objected
that the tenor of the above explanations is anti-Protestant,
whereas it is notorious that the Articles were drawn up by Pro-
testants, and intended for the establishment of Protestantism ;
accordingly, that it is an evasion of their meaning to give them
any other than a Protestant drift, possible as it may be to do so
gramriiatically, or in each separate part.
But the answer is simple :
1 . In the first place, it is a duty which we owe both to the
Catholic Church and to our own, to take our reformed confessions
in the most Catholic sense they will admit ; we have no duties
toward their framers. [Nor do we receive the Articles from their
original framers, but from several successive convocations after
their time ; in the last instance, from that of 1662.]
2. In giving the Articles a Catholic interpretation, we bring
them into harmony with the Book of Common Prayer, an object
of the most serious moment in those who have given their assent
to both formularies.
3. Whatever be the authority of the [Declaration] prefixed to
the Articles, so far as it has any weight at all, it sanctions the
mode of interpreting them above given. For its injoining the
*' literal and grammatical sense," relieves us from the necessity of
making the known opinions of their framers a comment upon
their text ; and its forbidding any person to " affix any neiv sense
to any Article," was promulgated at a time when the leading men
of our Church were especially noted for those Catholic views
which have been here advocated.
4. It may be remarked, moreover, that such an interpretation
is in accordance with the well-known general leaning of Melanch-
thon, from whose writings our Articles are principally drawn, and
whose Catholic tendencies gained for him that same reproach of
popery, which has ever been so freely bestowed upon members of
our own reformed Church.
Conclusion. 81
" Melancthon was of opinion," says Mosheim, " that, for the sake of peace
and concord many things might be given up and tolerated in the Church of
Rome, which Luther considered could by no means be endured .... In the class
of matters indifferent, this great man and his associates placed many things
which had appeared of the highest importance to Luther, and could not of con-
sequence be considered as indifferent by his true disciples. For he regarded
as such, the doctrine of justification by faith alone, the necessity of good works
to eternal salvation ; the number of the sacraments ; the jurisdiction claimed by
the Pope and the Bishops ; extreme unction ; the observation of certain reli-
gious festivals, and several superstitious rites and ceremonies." — Cent. XVL
§ 3. part 2. 27, 28.
5. Further: the Articles are evidently framed on the principle
of leaving open large questions, on which the controversy hinges.
They state broadly extreme truths, and are silent about their
adjustment. For instance, they say that all necessary faith must
be proved from Scripture, but do not say who is to prove it.
They say that the Church has authority in controversies, they
do not say what authority. They say that it may enforce nothing
bey(Jnd Scripture, but do not say where the remedy lies when it
does. They say that works before grace and justification are
worthless and worse, and that works after grace and justification
are acceptable, but they do not speak at all of works with God's
aid, before justification. They say that men are lawfully called
and sent to minister and preach, who are chosen and called by
men who have public authority given them in the congregation to
call and send ; but they do not add by whom the authority is to
be given. They say that councils called by princes may err ;
they do not determine whether councils called in the name of
Christ will err.
[6. The variety of doctrinal views contained in the Homilies, as
above shown, views which cannot be brought under Protestantism
itself, in its widest comprehension of opinions, is an additional
proof, considering the connexion of the Articles with the Ho-
milies, that the Articles are not framed on the principle of ex-
cluding those who prefer the theology of the early ages to that of
the Reformation ; or rather since both Homilies and Articles
appeal to the Fathers and Catholic antiquity, let it be con-
sidered whether, in interpreting them by these, we are not
VOL. VI. — 90. o
82 Conclusion,
going to the very authority to which they profess to submit
themselves.]
7. Lastly, their fraraers constructed them in such a way as
best to comprehend those who did not go so far in Protestantism
as themselves. Anglo-Catholics then are but the successors and
representatives of those moderate reformers ; and their case
has been directly anticipated in the wording of the Articles.
It follows that they are not perverting, they are using them, for
an express purpose for which among others their authors framed
them. The interpretation they take was intended to be admis-
sible ; though not that which their authors took themselves.
Had it not been provided for, possibly the Articles never would
have been accepted by our Church at all. If, then, their framers
have gained their side of the compact in effecting the reception of
the Articles, let Catholics have theirs too in retaining their own
Catholic interpretation of them.
An illustration of this occurs in the history of the 28th
Article. In the beginning of Elizabeth's reign a paragraph
formed part of it, much like that which is now appended to the
Communion Service, but in which the Real Presence was denied
in words. It was adopted by the clergy at the first convocation,
but not published. Burnet observes on it thus : —
" When these Articles were at first prepared by the convocation in Queen
Elizabeth's reign, this paragraph was made a part of them ; for the original
subscription by both houses of convocation, yet extant, shows this. But the
design of the government was at that time much turned to the drawing over the
body of the nation to the Refortnation, in whom the old leaven had gone deep ;
and no part of it deeper than the belief of the corporeal presence of Christ in
the Sacrament ; therefore it was thought not expedient to offend them by so
particular a definition in this matter ; in which the very word Real Presence
was rejected. It might, perhaps, be also suggested, that here a definition was
made that went too much upon the principles of natural philosophy; which, how
true soever, they might not be the proper subject of aa article of religion.
Therefore it was thought fit to suppress this paragraph ; though it was a part
of the Article that was subscribed, yet it was not published, but the paragraph
that follows, ' The Body of Christ,' &c. was put in its stead, and was re-
ceived and published by the next convocation ; which upon the matter was a
full explanation of the way of Christ's presence in this Sacrament; that ' He
is present in a heavenly and spiritual manner, and that faith is the mean by
Conclusion. 88
which He is received.' This seemed to be more theological ; and it does in-
deed amount to the same thing. But howsoever we see what was the sense of
the first convocation in Queen Elizabeth's reign ; it differed in nothing from
that in King Edward's time ; and therefore though this paragraph is now no
part of our Articles, yet we are certain that the clergy at that time did not at
all doubt of the truth of it ; we are sure it was their opinion ; since they sub-
scribed it, though they did not think fit to publish it at first ; and though it was
afterwards changed for another, that was the same in sense." — Burnet on Arti-
cle XXVIII, p. 416.
What has lately taken place in the political world will afford
an illustration in point. A French minister, desirous of war,
nevertheless, as a matter of policy, draws up his state papers in
such moderate language, that his successor, who is for peace,
can act up to them, without compromising his own principles.
The world, observing this, has considered it a circumstance for
congratulation ; as if the former minister, who acted a double
part, had been caught in his own snare. It is neither decorous,
nor necessary, nor altogether fair, to urge the parallel rigidly ; but
it will explain what it is here meant to convey. The Protestant
Confession was drawn up with the purpose of including Catho-
lics ; and Catholics now will not be excluded. What was an
economy in the reformers, is a protection to us. What would
have been a perplexity to us then, is a perplexity to Protestants
now. We could not then have found fault with their words ;
they cannot now repudiate our meaning.
[J. H. N.]
Oxford,
The Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul.
1841.
THIRD EDITION,
The Feast of St. John the Evangelist, 1841.
2'hese Tracts are published in Numbers, and sold at the price of
2d. for each sheet, or 7s. for 50 copies.
LONDON: PRINTED FOR J. G. F. & J. RIVINGTON,
ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD, AND WATERLOO PLACE.
1841.
Gilbert & Rivington, Printers, St. John's Square, London.
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